Scott Ketcheson is an Associate Professor and NSERC Canada Research Chair in Hydrological Sustainability at Athabasca University. As a field hydrologist, Scott studies the movement of water between forests, wetlands, and streams in northern Alberta. He has over 15 years of experience in wetland hydrology and has worked in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region on reclamation hydrology for over 10 years. His research program uses both traditional hydrological techniques and innovative sensor networks to gain a better understanding of the how headwater catchments work and their importance for keeping water flowing through streams and rivers within the lower Athabasca River Basin.

Maria Strack is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at University of Waterloo and Tier II Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate. She has built an innovative and internationally-recognized research program investigating peatland greenhouse gas exchange with a focus on managed ecosystems including those affected by disturbance and restoration. Results from her research have been incorporated in Canada’s GHG National Inventory Report and was a member of Canada’s Nature Based Climate Solutions Advisory Committee from 2021-2023.  She was a lead author on the chapter “Rewetted Organic Soils” in 2013 Supplement to 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands and coordinating lead author on the North America chapter in the Global Peatlands Assessment.

Greg is a geospatial scientist whose research activities revolve around the application of remote sensing and other geospatial technologies to environmental monitoring and ecology. He is involved in a wide variety of interdisciplinary research collaborations in the fields of wildlife ecology, restoration assessment, ecological monitoring, and vegetation mapping. He’s interested in a broad range of remote sensing and other GIScience pursuits, including drones, machine learning, cloud computing, environmental modelling, and data fusion/integration.

Dr. Bin Xu held the NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Peatland Restoration at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology since 2012. He has over 18 years of research experience on the impact of human activities on natural peatland ecosystems in boreal Canada. He has worked closely with university collaborators, industry partners and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop science-based, effective techniques and methods to reclaim disturbed peatlands by in-situ extraction in northern Alberta. He’s leading research on assessing and mitigating industrial footprints, particularly in-situ oil and gas exploration, on boreal peatlands through strategic planning, ecological restoration solutions, and innovation monitoring techniques. He’s closely involved in the development and implementation of provincial peatland reclamation standards and policy. He has hosted workshops and field training schools for practitioners, land managers, regulators on bryophyte biology/identification, peatland ecology, community ecology, provincial criteria assessment, as well as hands-on training of site preparation, civil earthwork, plant species selection, propagation and field deployment.

Sarah is a research technician with the NAIT Centre for Boreal Research Peatland Restoration team. She helps run NAIT’s field operations for the Imperial Oil Aspen project and works to assess the effect of management practices on a salvaged organic soil stockpile.

Carissa has recently joined the NAIT Peatlands team and will be studying the stockpile. Having worked in both government and not-for-profit sectors, she has experience in field-based research, land conservation, and community engagement.  

Lelia is a research technician at Athabasca University, managing the hydrologic and carbon aspects of the Aspen project. She is mainly focused on the eddy covariance data, which will be used to assess differences in carbon and water dynamics on either side of the access road.

Carissa is a PhD student bringing over a decade of wetland research experience ranging from geospatial analysis to microbial ecology. She has worked for federal and provincial government agencies, conservation authorities and not-for-profit organizations. Her current project investigates how road infrastructure may alter carbon cycling in peatlands, via shifts in vegetation communities and microbial function. 

Veronica is a Masters thesis student with the University of Waterloo working on the peat stockpile at Aspen. Her project focuses on studying the different vegetation treatments on the stockpile and analyzing how they may affect greenhouse gas emissions.

Joseph is a MSc thesis student from the University of Calgary working on the main access road at Aspen. His research is focused on characterizing the hydrology and peat hydrophysical properties of the ecosystems adjacent to the road.

​Julia is a MSc visiting research student from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich working on the main access road at Aspen. Her research focuses on investigating the dynamics of evapotranspiration in response to microtopographic variations and anthropogenic disturbance caused by the mineral road at Aspen.

Rakshit is a dual BSc honours student at the University of Calgary working on the main access road at Aspen. He is doing Ecology and Earth Science with a Geology minor and certificates in Sustainability Studies and Entrepreneurial Thinking. He has an interest in learning about wetlands, hydrology, vegetation, and aquatic and terrestrial ecology and working in projects related to these. His project looks at the influence of the mineral road at Aspen on the vegetation communities adjacent to the road by quantifying the differences in the percent cover and heights of plant groups.