Peggy
Desserud
Peggy Desserud joined Renewable Resources as a PhD candidate in September 06. Peggy was born in Quebec, but grew up in New Brunswick, and so considers herself a Maritimer. While completing an undergraduate degree in marine biology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, she discovered a tendency towards sea-sickness, so moved west to Alberta to begin a career in the oil and gas industry. This career included international assignments in South America.
In 2003, she left TransCanada Pipelines and in 2006 entered the University of Calgary, where she completed a Master of Environmental Design. Her research focused on the restoration of rough fescue grassland on pipelines in south western Alberta. A summary of her thesis has been published as a technical paper by the department of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD). Peggy has also conducted research into forage production in riparian areas in Alberta, producing technical papers as part of a three year study for the Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society (also known as “Cows and Fish”).
Wishing to delve more deeply into the ecology of Alberta grasslands, in particular the growth characteristics of rough fescue, Peggy began her PhD studies last fall, with Dr. Anne Naeth as her supervisor. Her study area is the Rumsey Natural Area, in central Alberta, a large tract of uncultivated rough fescue grassland in which oil and gas development has been ongoing since the 1950s.
Using existing natural gas well site and pipeline disturbances, Peggy will experiment with various revegetation techniques, conducting parallel greenhouse trials. She will also assess the cumulative effects of past and present disturbances in Rumsey, and develop a predictive model based on disturbance and reclamation techniques. Her research spans the extent of rough fescue ecology from soil microbial influences to seed growth mediums, to practical reclamation applications for the oil and gas industry.
In her spare time, Peggy enjoys gourmet cooking, wine making, travelling, golfing and gardening.
Welcome to the department, Peggy!
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2007 edition of the Landmark Newsletter.
Added: 18 October 2010