Just three years ago, red and white smoke stacks loomed over the Wabamun power plant near the lake in Alberta, while across a highway at the Whitewood mine giant earth moving machines exposed soil and coal – same as it had for five decades.
Today, TransAlta Utilities is close to removing all evidence of both the industrial sites, having moved its major operations across the lake.
The company is completely returning the area into a mix of agricultural, wildlife and wetland habitat that have already been environmentally certified by Canadian officials. More than 277,000 trees have been planted on the sites, and recreation boat launches are being added to an enhanced shoreline.
(READ the full story, w/ photos, in the Edmonton Journal)