Environmental Restoration & Reclamation
Arizona Environment prides itself on building solutions to complex technical problems associated with agriculture, industry and energy generation activities. Our solutions use a range of policy and technology tools to address and remediate pollution, protect areas of high biodiversity, and mitigate damages caused by past resource management decisions.
Although the most effective way to protect our planet is to avoid degradation in the first place, Arizona Environment is widely known for its innovative programs in environmental restoration and reclamation. We engage in applied research such as testing sustainable mining techniques, detection and removal of contamination in neighborhoods, soils and hazardous waste sites, mitigation of health effects of pollution, recycling and treatment of wastewater to drinking water quality, and design of ecological restoration in the context of wildfire and rapid environmental change.
Research Spotlights in Environmental Restoration & Reclamation
Alicja Babst-Kostecka
Environmental Science
Babst-Kostecka’s research addresses the microbes, soil, and plants of polluted and contaminated areas, and the mechanisms that facilitate heavy metal tolerance and hyperaccumulation.
Read moreElise Gornish
School of Natural Resources and the Environment
Gornish examines pathways to sustainable rangeland restoration, using plants that maintain high foraging quality and improve resistance to drought and plant invasion, while enhancing ecosystem services such as soil quality, erosion control, and biodiversity.
Read moreJames Field
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Field examines sulfate and heavy metal removal from acid rock drainage and mine reclamation areas and investigates the biological treatment of contaminants in drinking water and wastewater treatment.
Read moreRaina Maier and Jon Chorover
Environmental Science
Maier and Chorover are developing a feasible revegetation study for the phytostabilization of mine tailings in arid and semi-arid ecosystems.
Read moreRelated Greenfeed
Related Events
Related Projects
ASRC works on wide range of international, national, regional, and local projects in which advanced airborne and satellite remote sensing data and other geospatial information technologies are utilized to help address both fundamental and applied issues in natural resource management.
Read more
The mission of CESM is to develop educational, specialized professional training, and research initiatives that address environmental issues related to mining activities in arid and semi-arid urban environments.
Read more
The Dean Carter Binational Center supports binational research in the environmental sciences aimed at improving public health in Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico Border, particularly by solving problems at contaminated sites and developing assessment and remediation methodologies that are broadly applicable.
Read more
The Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill is a culturally important 860-acre ecological preserve in Tucson, conducting environmental studies which include physiology, ecology, restoration ecology, and arid lands.
Read more
The Desert Research Unit performs basic and applied research to evaluate and promote methods for reclamation of water and land in arid and semiarid environments.
Read more
DSCESU is a UA-based cooperative network of federal, university, and non-governmental agencies studying and managing natural and cultural resources across California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, with emphasis on involving communities and under-represented groups.
Read more
RRAC conducts large-scale field research projects in plant breeding, weed control, plant pathology, insect management, fertility & nitrogen management, soil conservation, alternative crops, and other areas of agronomic interest.
Read more
The Santa Rita Experimental Range is a 52,000-acre range-- the longest continuously active rangeland research facility and among the 5 oldest biological field stations in the United States. It supports research on endangered species and ecosystems.
Read more
The mission of the Superfund Research Program is to advance science and apply the biomedical and environmental research conducted by the program for the improvement of human health and the environment.
Read more
Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed was established in the 1950s in southeastern Arizona to study floods and the impact of soil and water conservation projects on runoff.
Read more