Using data management to improve oil and gas pad reclamation.

摘要

A database framework was constructed with the purpose of creating a land reclamation decision management tool by compiling oil and gas pad reclamation data to identify successful restoration practices. Pre-existing data were secured from public and private databases from two Wyoming production fields in the Greater Green River Basin from 2005-2012: Jonah Infill and Moxa Arch. The framework includes tables for measurements of reclamation practices (e.g., soil handling methods and amendments, seeding mix and timing, and weed management), geographical and climatological data (e.g., precipitation, slope, aspect, elevation, and temperature) and monitoring data (e.g., vegetation composition and structure along with soil analysis and grazing). Microsoft Access and ESRI ArcGIS 10.1 were used to build the reclamation database for consistent and reliable data storage, manipulation, and retrieval. Querying populated data along with uniting imported data has revealed multiple strengths and weaknesses of the database and data within it. While the initial goal of this project was to identify best management practices in reclamation, several factors limited us from achieving this goal. First, the regulatory criteria for reclamation success vary between and amongst regulatory agencies. Second, there is a limited representation of reclamation practices housed in the database. Third, field technicians, monitoring timing, and monitoring techniques vary across years, making data analysis difficult. Lastly, reclamation of semiarid lands takes many years, so the time-frame of our database has also been limiting. This thesis will outline the construction process of the database, highlight differences in regulatory mechanisms, discuss problems faced in data analysis, and make recommendations for improvement in oil and gas pad reclamation and data collection.