The eighth annual North Dakota Reclamation Conference, “Moving Reclamation Forward,” will focus on reclamation practices, technology and monitoring that can be used to improve reclamation success.

It will be held Feb. 25-26 at the Roosevelt Grand Dakota Hotel in Dickinson, N.D.

“When we talk about reclamation, we often focus on the immediate response and tools needed to achieve successful remediation but often neglect to define what is successful reclamation and how is it measured,” says Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University Extension livestock environmental stewardship specialist.

NDSU Extension, Dickinson State University, the Society for Range Management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and the North Dakota Department of Health are hosting the event.

The conference begins with registration at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 25. The keynote address will start at 5:30 p.m., and will be followed by a trade show mixer at 6:30 p.m.

Thomas DeSutter, an environmental soil scientist in NDSU’s Department of Soil Science, is the keynote speaker. His research interests include saline and sodic soils, reclamation of energy extraction-impacted soils, and distribution of mercury and other trace metals in surface and subsurface soils. His address is titled “Current and Potential Remediation Strategies for Brine Spills.”

According to DeSutter, “The advancement of methods and strategies for cleaning up brine must continue for the sake of landowners, oil and gas industries, and the state.”

The Feb. 26 program starts at 8 a.m. with a general session focused on reclamation case studies, followed by concurrent sessions on reclamation technology and ecosystem recovery.

“In NDSU Extension’s discussions with landowners, they commonly express concerns about the long-term success of reclamation and the availability of the land to be used by future generations,” Meehan says. “The implementation of new technologies and monitoring of reclamation efforts is required to achieve this goal.”

Conference presenters include representatives from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, North Dakota Public Service Commission, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota, NDSU and private industry.

The registration fee for the conference is $90 if paid by Feb. 14 and $110 after that date.

For registration or more information, visit https://www.ndreclamation.com or contact Meehan at 701-231-7683 or miranda.meehan@ndsu.edu; or Toby Stroh, assistant professor of agriculture at Dickinson State, at 701-483-2185 or toby.stroh@dickinsonstate.edu.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - Jan. 28, 2020