Abstract
Restoring sites disturbed by industrial activity to a forested condition can ensure the continued provision of economic and ecosystem services from these areas. Impounded mine tailings are particularly challenging sites, and positive benefits of establishing trees must be balanced against risks associated with metal contamination, ongoing tailings stability, and the possibility of acid mine drainage. We used a hybrid biometric modelling approach based on dendrochronological reconstruction to retrospectively (1980–2015) quantify productivity and carbon dynamics of pine plantations growing on impounded mine tailings at the Vale waste management facility near Sudbury, Canada. Historical reclamation practices had remediated conditions sufficiently to allow conifer plantation establishment in the late 1970s. The revegetated sites were highly productive, when compared to reference conditions based on site index, wood volume growth, and ecosystem production, congruent with other studies showing that forests on revegetated post mining sites can be highly productive. However, metal concentrations in the forest floor were high, and further research is warranted to evaluate ecosystem impacts. Due to the requirement for energy-intensive inputs, we estimated that it took 12 years or more to recover the emissions associated with the revegetation process through C accumulated in biomass and soil at the revegetated sites.
Highlights
Canada’s forested regions contain significant mineral and energy resources, the extraction of which contributes to the fulfillment of society’s needs for goods and services and makes a significant contribution to the national economy
White pine plantations growing on reclaimed surface mine land in Virginia was projected to have a site index higher than natural white pine stands in that region [58], while three different boreal species in Alberta growing on restored oil sands mining sites have similar site indices to undisturbed natural stands [59]
We examined the recovery of revegetated sites located on impounded mine tailings at the Vale waste management facility near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Summary
Canada’s forested regions contain significant mineral and energy resources, the extraction of which contributes to the fulfillment of society’s needs for goods and services and makes a significant contribution to the national economy. One of the consequences of this is that the areas on which this activity takes place are subject to severe disturbance, which will require reclamation or restoration in order to be returned to a productive forested state and ensure the continuation of social license [1,2]. Returning industrially disturbed sites to a forested condition is critical to ensuring that these sites continue to provide a variety of both economic and ecosystem services. Successful revegetation in boreal forests can take decades [3] and must take into account that forests are complex ecosystems consisting of long-lived plants where successional changes, through multiple pathways, can often take decades or centuries [4]. Revegetation must be resilient to future changes in climate that will influence
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