Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation (SWEDR)
Approximately 35% of the US and approximately 82% of DOI lands are “drylands” found throughout the western US. These lands contain oil, gas, oil shale, shale oil, and tar sand deposits and the exploration for and extraction of these resources has resulted in hundreds of thousands of operating and abandoned wells across the West. These arid and semi-arid lands have unique soil and plant communities that are resistant to decadal fluctuations in precipitation and temperatures. However, human disturbances often have large and long-term ecological effects. Research conducted by the Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation project informs the management and restoration of drylands impacted by energy exploration and development.
Time, climate, and soil settings set the course for reclamation outcomes
Learn more about our reclamation experiments
Learn how we are mapping energy development
Smart Energy Development web tool
Background & Importance
Land degradation of drylands is a persistent and increasing problem that threatens the ecosystem services and habitats they provide. Many drylands globally are forecast to experience increasing aridity, including those in the US. Further, drylands have been shown to be extremely vulnerable to changes in climate, with large-scale shifts in community composition and function observed in many ecosystems of the Southwest. As a result, many drylands are degraded with diminished biodiversity, habitat quality, and ecosystem services. Thus, to conserve dryland habitats and ecosystem services, it is important to limit dryland land degradation through protection or mitigation, as well as to reverse these undesirable changes through active restoration.
The focus of the Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation (SWEDR) project is on the Colorado Plateau, a ~340,000 km2 physiographic province in the southwestern United States. The Colorado Plateau is a high elevation (~1500 m) dryland with grasslands, shrublands, and woodland plant community types, and 33 national parks and monuments (including four United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage sites). The Colorado Plateau is a hot spot for climate change, with some counties in the region among the top in the nation for temperature increases since pre-industrial measurements. Managing energy development in these vast landscapes in the context of rising temperatures and persistent droughts is challenging for land managers and policymakers.
Objectives
Scientists with the SWEDR project are working closely with Department of Interior (DOI) agencies and other stakeholders to conduct actionable science to help address these needs, outlined in the following objectives:
- Examine and quantify the impacts of energy exploration and development on ecosystems, wildlife, and society, both locally and cumulatively.
- Understand reclamation outcomes, both using field data and remote sensing, and understand how management, landscape setting, weather, and time may constrain or promote successful reclamation. This objective also will inform how to best monitor and establish benchmarks for reclamation success.
- Use experiments to evaluate current and to test cutting-edge reclamation techniques. These reclamation experiments will be primarily on reclaimed oil or gas pads but also include studies on mine sites and in the greenhouse.
- Complete technical transfer and communication of results with DOI and other stakeholders. This includes the development of techniques and methods publications, presentations, development of tools, and other accessible information formats.
All objectives are being accomplished using a co-production of science approach with significant input and participation from our partners and stakeholders in all aspects of the scientific process.
Below are science projects associated with this project.
Smart Energy Development: Tools for Informed Development & Successful Reclamation
Spatial data of oil and gas pads and access roads on the Colorado Plateau, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico
Below are publications associated with this project.
Oil and gas reclamation—Operations, monitoring methods, and standards
Disturbance automated reference toolset (DART): Assessing patterns in ecological recovery from energy development on the Colorado Plateau
The automated reference toolset: A soil-geomorphic ecological potential matching algorithm
Desertification, land use, and the transformation of global drylands
Assessing impacts of roads: application of a standard assessment protocol
Revolutionary land use change in the 21st century: Is (rangeland) science relevant?
A holistic strategy for adaptive land management
Below are news stories related to this project.
Below are partners associated with this project.
Approximately 35% of the US and approximately 82% of DOI lands are “drylands” found throughout the western US. These lands contain oil, gas, oil shale, shale oil, and tar sand deposits and the exploration for and extraction of these resources has resulted in hundreds of thousands of operating and abandoned wells across the West. These arid and semi-arid lands have unique soil and plant communities that are resistant to decadal fluctuations in precipitation and temperatures. However, human disturbances often have large and long-term ecological effects. Research conducted by the Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation project informs the management and restoration of drylands impacted by energy exploration and development.
Time, climate, and soil settings set the course for reclamation outcomes
Learn more about our reclamation experiments
Learn how we are mapping energy development
Smart Energy Development web tool
Background & Importance
Land degradation of drylands is a persistent and increasing problem that threatens the ecosystem services and habitats they provide. Many drylands globally are forecast to experience increasing aridity, including those in the US. Further, drylands have been shown to be extremely vulnerable to changes in climate, with large-scale shifts in community composition and function observed in many ecosystems of the Southwest. As a result, many drylands are degraded with diminished biodiversity, habitat quality, and ecosystem services. Thus, to conserve dryland habitats and ecosystem services, it is important to limit dryland land degradation through protection or mitigation, as well as to reverse these undesirable changes through active restoration.
The focus of the Southwest Energy Exploration, Development, and Reclamation (SWEDR) project is on the Colorado Plateau, a ~340,000 km2 physiographic province in the southwestern United States. The Colorado Plateau is a high elevation (~1500 m) dryland with grasslands, shrublands, and woodland plant community types, and 33 national parks and monuments (including four United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage sites). The Colorado Plateau is a hot spot for climate change, with some counties in the region among the top in the nation for temperature increases since pre-industrial measurements. Managing energy development in these vast landscapes in the context of rising temperatures and persistent droughts is challenging for land managers and policymakers.
Objectives
Scientists with the SWEDR project are working closely with Department of Interior (DOI) agencies and other stakeholders to conduct actionable science to help address these needs, outlined in the following objectives:
- Examine and quantify the impacts of energy exploration and development on ecosystems, wildlife, and society, both locally and cumulatively.
- Understand reclamation outcomes, both using field data and remote sensing, and understand how management, landscape setting, weather, and time may constrain or promote successful reclamation. This objective also will inform how to best monitor and establish benchmarks for reclamation success.
- Use experiments to evaluate current and to test cutting-edge reclamation techniques. These reclamation experiments will be primarily on reclaimed oil or gas pads but also include studies on mine sites and in the greenhouse.
- Complete technical transfer and communication of results with DOI and other stakeholders. This includes the development of techniques and methods publications, presentations, development of tools, and other accessible information formats.
All objectives are being accomplished using a co-production of science approach with significant input and participation from our partners and stakeholders in all aspects of the scientific process.
Below are science projects associated with this project.
Smart Energy Development: Tools for Informed Development & Successful Reclamation
Spatial data of oil and gas pads and access roads on the Colorado Plateau, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico
Below are publications associated with this project.
Oil and gas reclamation—Operations, monitoring methods, and standards
Disturbance automated reference toolset (DART): Assessing patterns in ecological recovery from energy development on the Colorado Plateau
The automated reference toolset: A soil-geomorphic ecological potential matching algorithm
Desertification, land use, and the transformation of global drylands
Assessing impacts of roads: application of a standard assessment protocol
Revolutionary land use change in the 21st century: Is (rangeland) science relevant?
A holistic strategy for adaptive land management
Below are news stories related to this project.
Below are partners associated with this project.