Reclamation - restoring disturbed lands

ABSTRACT

Land reclamation following surface mining in the Athabasca oils sands region will be extensive, with various challenges specific to local reclamation cover soils. The high economic costs associated with pre-disturbance soil salvage and placement in reclamation necessitates judicious management and application of salvaged cover soils. Soil microbial community activity and bioavailable nutrient supply are largely overlooked in reclamation analyses despite their potential in providing a sensitive measurement of ecosystem function. This study evaluates these parameters by comparing two continuous cover soils, a coarse-textured forest floor mineral mix (FFM) and an organic matter-rich peat soil (PM) at Syncrude Canada's Aurora Soil Capping Study. Shallow (10 cm) and Deep (20–30 cm) placement depths of FFM and PM were compared to a control receiving no cover soil and a harvested jack pine site as a reference. Soil function was assessed by measuring bioavailable nutrient supply rates, soil respiration, phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA), and community level physiological profiles (CLPP). Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) was used to quantify functional similarity with reference conditions. NMS revealed the greatest similarity between FFM and the reference site for bioavailable nutrient supply, PLFA, and CLPP. Deep FFM application shared greatest PLFA similarity to the reference site, while Shallow FFM was more similar in CLPP. Shallow PM was more similar to reference conditions than Deep for all parameters measured, suggesting that shallow cover soil applications might be sufficient for the reclamation target. Soil respiration rates were greatest in FFM, followed by the reference site and PM treatments, with no difference attributable to placement depth. PM had greater nitrogen and sulfur availability, but was lower in phosphorus and potassium when compared to FFM and the reference site. Ecosystem function was more similar in cover soils that mimicked the reference site conditions as much as possible, which in this case meant shallow placement and material salvaged from upland forests

Just give me a couple trucks and dozers and turn me loose.

This reclamation is 10 years old and no soil was placed - these are going directly into waste rock. This is high elevation, so the trees grow slowly

Replanting logged tropical forests with a diverse mixture of seedlings can help them regrow more quickly than allowing trees to regenerate naturally, a study has shown.

After trees were felled in the 1980s, the publicly owned Malua Forest Reserve was dedicated to learning how best to restore tropical forests.

Prof Andrew Hector, of the University of Oxford, who set up the experiment more than 20 years ago as part of the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, said: "Our new study demonstrates that replanting logged tropical forests with diverse mixtures of native tree species achieves multiple wins, accelerating the restoration of tree cover, biodiversity, and important ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration."

The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Science Advances, said that the probable reason for the better recovery was that different tree species occupied distinct niches within the forest ecosystem and so diverse mixtures of planted species complemented each other and increased the effective functioning of the whole ecosystem.

Some tropical species were more tolerant of drought because they produced more protective chemicals, giving the forest resilience during periods of low rainfall.

Hector added: "Having diversity in a tropical forest can be likened to an insurance effect, similar to having a financial strategy of diverse investment portfolios."

Tropical forests cover 6% of the planet's land surface but are home to about 80% of the world's documented species and are major carbon sinks.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/2107025

In recognition for outstanding design and innovation, the Delprat Cottage and Gardens has been awarded a Good Design Award Gold Winner Accolade in the Architectural Design category at the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented: "This project finds an innovative, research-based solution to removing toxic soil and monitoring passive environmental approaches. The Jury commends the design team for this outstanding project that will no doubt drive innovation and future research into this area. Well done."

The Australian Good Design Awards is the country's oldest and most prestigious international awards for design and innovation with a proud history dating back to 1958.

"Some of the Award-winning projects from this year's Good Design Awards are truly ground-breaking. There are so many inspiring impact-led projects this year that have embraced the power of design as a problem-solving tool - their design stories deserve to be recognised and celebrated at the highest level. We are proud to continue the legacy of celebrating design, and designers making a positive impact on our world. The Good Design Awards showcase what true design excellence looks like, to inspire others to greatness - that's exactly what these Awards are about."

Projects recognised with an Australian Good Design Award demonstrate excellence in professional design and highlight the impact a design-led approach has on business success and social and environmental outcomes.

While I'm a bit skeptical of the anti-Eucalyptus crusade in California, there are certainly situations where the trees need to be thinned or removed, and this seemed an interesting technique for those who wish to avoid herbicides. I wonder if it could be done with an edible species to provide an edible harvest as well.

"Deep within a midlife adventure crisis, I find myself in Tasmania, about to descend a sickly orange, biologically dead river the locals call pumpkin soup.  Seeking out places that aren't always the prettiest, wildest or biggest, the Queen river, after 100 years of runoff from a mine, is considered the most polluted river in Australia.

For two days I had a hard time reconciling between the tremendous damage humanity is capable of, and how that same energy and desire must be used to fix this very big problem. That, and the fact there were times on the river, deep within the wonders of Tasmania’s landscape, I had to remind myself I was floating on water that can’t support life."

Abstract Topsoil stockpiled for 4 years resulted in an accumulation of NH4-N at depths of 1m or more in mound, as measured by an ammonia gas-sensing electrode. When leached with water these soils were also found to contain high concentrations of dissolved organic C below lm. Both NH4-N and DOC were products of microbial mineralisation of soil organic matter that accumulated under anaerobic conditions. When these soils were restored a flush of decomposition took place, fuelled by labile organic matter and soluble nitrogen. Stockpiled soil which underwent an ammonium-rich perfusion regime in the laboratory indicated that in-mound soils rapidly attained greater nitrification potential than surface mound soils and also had greater potential for further mineralisation of organic matter to NH4-N. This further production was seen as a contribution from the bacterial flush, stimulated by the large labile-C pool already present. As the bulk of stored soil was anaerobic, restored soils were seen as potentially wasteful of their N-reserves; the fate of nitrogen and soluble carbon compounds in restored soils is discussed.

Abstract One technique used to combat the growing global species extinction crisis has been to create artificial refuges—human-made replacements for natural refuges destroyed during habitat modification. However, there is limited knowledge of how closely artificial refuges replicate the natural refuges they seek to replace. Mining threatens many species worldwide through large-scale habitat modification, and artificial refuges have been proposed as a method to offset the resulting habitat loss. Here, we examined the microclimatic, physical, and biotic characteristics of natural dens occupied by the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus)—an endangered marsupial threatened by habitat loss—and compared these to (a) superficially similar unoccupied crevices, and (b) artificial dens created by mining companies for northern quolls. Northern quolls occupied natural dens that were cooler and deeper than unoccupied crevices, likely to avoid lethal air temperatures as well as predators. Artificial dens provided similar thermal properties to occupied dens, but lacked key characteristics in having shallower den cavities, less complex surrounding habitat, increased feral cat visitation, and less small mammal prey compared to occupied dens. This study highlights the need to consider multiple facets when constructing artificial refuges, in order to avoid perverse outcomes, such as inadequate shelter, increased predation, and food shortages.

ABSTRACT Soil stockpiling is a necessary component of opencast coal mining and, because most of the soils involved have arable potential, this involves the possibility of serious soil degradation. A study at four mines on the Highveld of South Africa involved sampling a number of stockpiles of various ages and origins. Samples were also collected from unmined adjacent soils, as well as rehabilitated areas. Results of stockpiling showed a deterioration in all physical and chemical parameters studied. The soil profile texture gradient was disturbed, due to mixing of surface and subsurface materials. Stockpile bulk density rose by 4% from unmined soils and by a further 6% in rehabilitated areas, indicating continuing compaction problems. Cation exchange capacity values did not entirely correspond with the textural changes, suggesting increased leaching, whereas pH values decreased for many stockpiles, requiring post-mining liming to re-establish suitable environments. Organic carbon levels on stockpiles fell by 5%,

and by a further 35% to rehabilitated areas. Increasing age of stockpile did not seem to equate to a correspond- ing increase in degradation, except possibly for pH, which showed a weak correlation. Recommendations from

the study include the use of ‘cut and cover’ rehabilitation techniques; continuous soil specialist consultation, and limitations on stockpile height and duration.___

This rewinding group puts out videos on their progress

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/2967556

I know I can send soil samples to my local university extension office for testing, but how do I test soil for glyphosate-based herbicides, lead, arsenic, and other contaminates?

As a citizen scientist I'm about to get into composting more on my property and would like to know more.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1550666

"A century ago, small birds dominated around Sydney, not the large birds of today," ornithologist Tim Low wrote in his 2014 bestseller Where Song Began.

The superb fairywren - Australia's 2021 bird of the year - is the poster child for two projects aiming to bring the small birds back to city life in both Sydney and Melbourne.

"These much-loved birds are usually found in suburbs that have corridors of native bushland close by so their rapid disappearance, along with a number of other small bush birds, is cause for grave concern," BirdLife Australia said in a 2021 statement, adding that the probable cause was a loss of rich and diverse habitat due to urban sprawl and infill development.

In Melbourne, the plan to stop this loss is surprisingly simple: Boost ecological connectivity by revegetating the beautiful Royal Park, band some fairywrens for identification, and harness social media and citizen science to find out exactly where the birds live in the city - and how many there are.

In November 2022, local volunteers spent 15 minutes each in 50 locations, entering sightings of fairywrens and other small birds into BioCollect, a citizen science app.

"We're just waiting to see the extent to which those small birds can travel along the habitat corridors. We haven't noticed a huge shift yet, but that is our goal."

If possible, revegetate your own property for small birds, especially if you're near remnant habitat.

I joined McKay's popular Indigenous forest stewardship class expecting to master the use of prescribed burns to defend the forest.

Pepperwood has provided a model of how combining science with local Indigenous research, knowledge and practices can restore forest health and resiliency while mitigating the growing frequency and severity of fires.

While growing up, every trip to the forest offered McKay a lesson in where each plant loved to live, what it needed to thrive and how humans could read them to know if the land was out of balance.

He is the principal investigator of the UC-Berkeley Blodgett Forest Research Station, which led a two-decade study evaluating various forest treatments.

Hanson, who holds a doctorate in forest ecology from University of California, Davis, and his wife, Rachel Fazio, an attorney and co-lead of the John Muir Project, have filed dozens of suits against the U.S. Forest Service to block various plans to remove trees deemed a fire hazard.

Since 2017, Eisenberg, who also directs the university's Traditional Knowledge Lab, has been working with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to help public agencies strengthen partnerships with tribal nations on forest restoration projects.

As people gather their tools and begin to leave, I linger, asking for this oak's continued guidance on how to pay closer attention to its needs and the well-being of the entire forest community.

Organic amendments have been used to restore productivity to disturbed soils such as those on abandoned oil and natural gas wellsites. A study was conducted on three abandoned well- sites in southern Alberta, Canada to examine the effects of one-time applications of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay or beef cattle (Bos taurus) feedlot manure compost on soil properties under continuous wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The base amendment rate (1×) [dry wt.] was 5.3 Mg ha−1 for compost and 3.1 Mg ha−1 for alfalfa. The fi ve amendment rates of 0, 1×, 2×, 4×, and 8× were soil-incorporated at the wellsites. Although approximately twice as much C was applied with alfalfa than with compost, fi nal SOC content was similar for the two amendment treatments, indicating the greater stability of compost-derived C. Nitrate N content in the 0- to 60-cm depth was not affected by compost rate (mean 213 kg ha−1) but increased by 7.78 kg ha−1 for each Mg ha−1 increase in alfalfa rate. This result refl ects the greater stability of compost-N compared with alfalfa-N and suggests a lower risk of NO3–N leaching with compost application. Compost rates >20 Mg ha−1 resulted in excessive extract- able P build-up in the topsoil (up to 95.7 mg kg−1), which may pose environmental risk to surface water. We recommend amending wellsites with up to 12 Mg ha−1 of alfalfa or <20 Mg ha−1 of compost during reclamation to improve C storage and nutrient cycling while minimizing nutrient loss to water systems.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1450297

On Eurardy Reserve, Nanda Country, Western Australia, a project began four years ago to plant one million trees and shrubs.

This winter alone, around a quarter of a million seedlings were planted over a 5-week period. The planter, which has two seats for people to sit on, is pulled by a tractor.

For its size, the project is the first of its kind with such a high level of biodiversity, helping to set a new standard.

“Many carbon projects plant a handful of species, but this one has planted 62 to date,” Fiamma says.

Last summer, Bush Heritage staff, volunteers, and professional collectors from APACE WA Nursery, braved Eurardy’s heat and flies to collect the seed used to raise seedlings in nurseries ready for this year’s planting.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1448853

Kangaroo Island is the last refuge for the South Australian subspecies of glossy black-cockatoo - which is smaller but has a bigger bill than glossies in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

In 1995 the subspecies was heading towards extinction with fewer than 200 SA glossies left on Kangaroo Island.

The fires highlighted an urgent need to reestablish habitat for glossies on the Fleurieu Peninsula, just across from Kangaroo Island.

"First we identified high priority locations to restore sheoak woodland on the Fleurieu, based on the needs and preferences of glossies and the proximity to Kangaroo Island."

"There is plenty of opportunity for South Australia to do better. Restoring enough habitat to bring glossies back to the mainland would be a big start," said Mr Sanders.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1448749

There is a longstanding conservation debate on the benefits that protected areas such as national parks have for biodiversity.

We recruited an international team of scientists to conduct a comprehensive analysis of bird and mammal diversity inside and outside parks across South-East Asia.

To be honest, we were surprised mammal diversity was higher outside large parks.

It's common to see hunters both inside and outside parks in many countries.

We expected hunters' removal of game animals would reduce diversity outside parks.

Specifically, when comparing unprotected areas near large reserves to unprotected areas that didn't border large reserves, we found large reserves boosted mammal diversity in unprotected areas by up to 194%. However, a sad note from our study was the finding that only larger parks significantly enhanced mammal diversity, casting doubt on the effectiveness of smaller parks for mammal conservation.

Recent work in the region suggests many large mammals persist in small parks, but our study shows the presence of a few resilient animals in small parks doesn't scale up to higher biodiversity overall.

Abstract Tomorrow’s forests face extreme pressures from contemporary climate change, invasive pests, and anthropogenic demands for other land uses. These pressures, collectively, demand land managers to reassess current and potential forest management practices. We discuss three considerations, functional restoration, assisted migration, and bioengineering, which are currently being debated in the literature and have the potential to be applied independently or concurrently across a variety of scales. The emphasis of functional restoration is to reestablish or maintain functions provided by the forest ecosystem, such as water quality, wildlife habitat, or carbon sequestration. Maintaining function may call upon actions such as assisted migration—moving tree populations within a species current range to aid adaptation to climate change or moving a species far outside its current range to avoid extinction—and we attempt to synthesize an array of assisted migration terminology. In addition, maintenance of species and the functions they provide may also require new technologies, such as genetic engineering, which, compared with traditional approaches to breeding for pest resistance, may be accomplished more rapidly to meet and overcome the challenges of invasive insect and disease pests. As managers develop holistic adaptive strategies to current and future anthropogenic stresses, functional restoration, assisted migration, and bioengineering, either separately or in combinations, deserve consideration, but must be addressed within the context of the restoration goal.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1364534

Increasing the diversity of native plants in a single urban green space resulted in a sevenfold increase in the number of insect species after three years, Australian researchers have found.

Researchers measured baseline insect numbers the year before greening began, when 12 indigenous plant species were introduced to the space, and subsequently conducted insect surveys for the following three years.

The researchers estimated that by the final year of the study there were about 7.3 times more insect species than originally present, even though only nine plant species remained.

The researchers concluded that the study contributed a "Critical evidence base to support future greening projects and the practice, policy and decision-making for protecting nature in urban environments".

"We really need to do a better job valuing small, isolated green spaces," said Prof Dieter Hochuli of the University of Sydney, who was not involved in the study.

Other research in urban green spaces has linked sites with flowering plants to greater insect biodiversity compared to sites with non-flowering plants.

Increasing access to green and blue spaces and ensuring biodiversity-inclusive urban planning was agreed as one of the targets of the Cop15 summit last year.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1334246

Seed production areas could be the solution to Australia's native seed supply gap.

Establishing bigger and better native seed production areas has been identified as a potential practical solution to problems such as the low diversity of available species, seasonal variability in the amount of seed available, and genetic bottlenecking.

Native seed production areas, like this one being developed in Western Australia, can be set up to grow genetically diverse native seed suitable for revegetation and restoration projects.

Historically, the contribution of SPAs to the national seed market has been small, but this is growing, with the Australian Native Seed Survey Report 2020 estimating that 33% of seed purchasers source seed from SPAs.

Whether it is getting the amount of seed required to improve biodiversity outcomes, mitigate climate change through environmental carbon plantings, or assist the recovery of communities from disasters such as fire and flood - native seed production areas can play an important role in improving seed supply chains.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/1327356

The findings emphasize the importance of appropriately sized and located fire exclusion areas in conservation management.

Harry Butler Institute researcher Leticia Povh led the study and said understanding how animals use their space after prescribed burning is crucial for effective conservation management, particularly for threatened species like the quokka.

"The key results revealed a remarkable shift in the behavior of six quokkas that had previously resided in areas subjected to prescribed burns," Povh said.

https://www.murdoch.edu.au/news/articles/quokkas-adapt-to-prescribed-burns

• Home-range area calculations and behavioural change point analysis were conducted to study the space use of quokkas.
• The study found that appropriately sized and located fire exclusion areas are important for the long-term viability of quokka populations and other species with similar habitat requirements.
• Quokkas spent no more than 2% of their time in burn areas, indicating their avoidance of these areas.
• Quokkas in fire exclusion and control sites did not show any changes in their space use.
• It was found that quokkas actively avoided burn areas for an average of three months.