In 2005, the Reclamation Criteria Advisory Group (RCAG) was established as a multistakeholder group consisting of Industry, Government, and Landowner representatives chaired by Alberta Environment. The RCAG's mandate was to review and provide recommendations for upgrading the 1995 Update of the Reclamation Criteria for Wellsites and Associated Facilities.  The RCAG put forward the draft 2009 Reclamation Criteria that was field tested during the 2008 field season. During this period, practitioners assessed 115 reclaimed cultivated, grassland, and forested sites using the methodology outlined in the draft criteria. Report writers were then tasked with compiling the data and feedback from practitioners along with providing recommendations for changes these were then used in the creation of the 2010 Reclamation Criteria documents for Cultivated Lands, Native Grasslands, and Forested Lands.

As part of the 2010 Reclamation Criteria a set of Assessment Tools and Record of Observation (RoO) forms that have been created for each land use to aid assessors in their evaluations of reclaimed sites. These along with the methodologies outlined in the 2010 Reclamation Criteria place greater emphasis on the establishment of natural forest vegetation in the Forested Lands Criteria, community structure and composition in the Native Grassland Criteria, and vegetation parameters in the Cultivated Lands Criteria. The intent of the 2010 Reclamation Criteria is to measure appropriate parameters and evaluate whether land function and operability is comparable to the surrounding area or an appropriate reference.

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