Restoration of a peatland impacted by a mineral road: the JACOS site

在加拿大，自然资源的开采在整个北部地带都很广泛，基础设施不可避免地建在泥炭地。在艾伯塔省，许多石油开采井场位于泥炭地，每个井场都需要道路来建设和开采。道路(矿物线性结构)的引入以不同的方式干扰泥炭地生态系统：泥炭表面丧失，碳积累功能中断，泥炭压实降低水力传导性，限制水文连通性和改变道路两侧的地下水位。泥炭地道路的筑坝效应及其对土壤理化性质的影响也导致了植被组成和结构的变化。该修复项目旨在将生态修复技术应用于艾伯塔省麦克默里堡西南一条400米矿路干扰的贫瘠沼泽，并评估其恢复泥炭地特征的效率。修复的重点将是重建穿过泥炭地的地下水流动，并在以前的道路上重建合适的地表基质，以利于建立泥炭堆积植物组合，同时限制地下矿物填充物造成的营养污染。还将测试两种植被重建技术：一种是在与周围泥炭地类似的酸性有机基质上有利于泥炭沼泽贫瘠的沼泽群落，另一种是利用已经到位的道路矿物土壤来模拟泥炭地的启动过程，促进丰富的沼泽植被的建立。该项目将为从业人员带来突破性的解决方案，因为在艾伯塔省还没有已知的受矿物线状特征影响的泥炭地成功恢复的案例。该项目将填补恢复和开垦科学以及泥炭地管理方面的重大空白。从这些试验中形成的最佳管理做法和技术知识将使加拿大各地的广大受众受益，那里的泥炭地生态系统往往占主导地位。

In Canada, natural resource extraction is extensive across the boreal zone and infrastructures are inevitably built in peatlands. In Alberta, many of the well-sites for oil extraction are located on peatlands and each one need access roads for their construction and exploitation. The introduction of a road (a mineral-linear structure) disturbs the peatland ecosystem in different ways: loss of peat surface, disruption of the carbon accumulation function, peat compaction reducing hydraulic conductivity, and limiting the hydrologic connectivity and changing the water table level between the two sides of the road. The damming effect of roads in peatlands and its impact on the physicochemical properties also lead to changes in the vegetation composition and structure. This restoration project aims at applying ecological restoration techniques on a section of a poor fen disturbed by a 400 m mineral road located southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and to assess their efficiency to restore peatland characteristics. The restoration will focus on re-establishing the subsurface water flow across the peatland and to recreating a suitable surface substrate atop the former road to favour the establishment of peat-accumulating plant assemblages while confining the nutrient contamination from the mineral fill below ground. Two revegetation techniques will also be tested: one that will favour Sphagnum poor fen communities on an acidic organic substrate similar to the surrounding peatland and a second that will make use of the road mineral soil already in place to simulate peatland initiation processes and promote the establishment of rich fen vegetation. This project will bring breakthrough solutions to practitioners, since there are no known cases of successful peatland restoration impacted by mineral linear features in Alberta. The project will fill critical gaps in restoration and reclamation science and peatland management. Best management practices and technical knowledge developed from these trials will benefit a broad audience across Canada where peatland ecosystems often dominate.