Creeburn Lake Lodge: A climate-land-energy-water reconciliation hub as a Living Lab for Electrification of Ecosystem monitoring and restoration (Creeburn CLEAR hub)
Summary
Canada’s ecosystems face increasing threats from climate change, industrial development, and outdated, carbon-intensive monitoring methods. As wildfires worsen and greenhouse gas regulations tighten, there’s an urgent need for cleaner, more effective, and locally driven solutions—especially in remote regions.
Creeburn CLEAR will pilot a renewable-powered, off-grid monitoring and restoration module, led by Indigenous land managers. The mobile unit will power drones, sensors, and data servers for real-time analysis, alongside indoor growing systems for cultivating local Indigenous plant species to boost biodiversity, wildfire resilience, and carbon capture.
Combining Indigenous knowledge with SMART technologies (AI, IoT, modelling), this project offers a cleaner, culturally grounded approach to land stewardship. It supports Canada’s climate goals, creates green jobs, and delivers scalable tools and policies for more sustainable ecosystem management.
Key details
| Principal investigator | Luis D. Virla Alvarado, University of Calgary |
| Co-principal investigators | Laleh Behjat, University of Calgary Sabrina Peric, University of Calgary Ivan Kantor, Concordia University |
| Research collaborators | David Atkinson, University of Victoria |
| Areas of Research | Modelling and Design Technologies, Monitoring Technologies, Transportation-related Technologies, Infrastructure/Utility Technologies, Battery and Energy Storage Technologies, Environmental monitoring in remote areas, Equity and Accessibility to Renewable Energy or Renewable Energy Technologies, Public Policy and Governance of Energy or Energy-related Technologies, Knowledge Mobilization of Decarbonization and Electrification Processes |
| Non-academic partners | InnolabSpace, Ambienta, AgroInsider Lda, Ubba's Grub Hub, Esri Canada Ltd, Cecilia Fitzpatrick, Fort McKay First Nation |
