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方地区广泛进行，基础设施不可避免地要建在泥炭地上。在阿尔伯塔省，许多石油开采的井场都位于泥炭地，每个井场都需要通往泥炭地的道路来进行建设和开采。道路（一种矿物线性结构）的引入以不同的方式扰乱了泥炭地生态系统：泥炭表面的损失，碳积累功能的破坏，泥炭压实降低了水力传导性，限制了水文连通性并改变了道路两侧的地下水位。泥炭地道路的筑坝作用及其对泥炭地理化性质的影响也导致了泥炭地植被组成和结构的变化。该恢复项目旨在将生态恢复技术应用于位于艾伯塔省麦克默里堡西南400米矿物公路干扰的一段贫瘠沼泽，并评估其恢复泥炭地特征的效率。修复的重点是重建泥炭地的地下水流，并在以前的道路上重建合适的地表基质，以有利于建立泥炭积累植物组合，同时限制地下矿物填充物的营养污染。还将测试两种植被恢复技术：一种将在类似于周围泥炭地的酸性有机基质上有利于泥炭贫瘠的沼泽群落，另一种将利用已经存在的公路矿质土壤来模拟泥炭地的形成过程，并促进丰富沼泽植被的建立。该项目将为从业者带来突破性的解决方案，因为在阿尔伯塔省没有已知的受矿物线性特征影响的泥炭地恢复成功的案例。该项目将填补恢复和开垦科学以及泥炭地管理方面的关键空白。从这些试验中获得的最佳管理实践和技术知识将使加拿大各地的广大受众受益，因为泥炭地生态系统通常占主导地位。

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.