Rapid ecological restoration of aggregate sites: replication of mature hardwood forests

安大略省的综合产业创造了447亿美元的生产总值，130亿美元的劳动收入，220亿美元的国内生产总值(占国内生产总值的3.5%)，以及24.5万个全职工作岗位，包括直接生产、直接的次要影响和下游影响。集料对安大略省的基础设施建设至关重要，是一种有限的资源。接近市场的开采通常需要移走成熟的阔叶林，由于大多数矿坑和采石场的永久性洪水，这些森林永远无法在现场恢复。集合体生产商计划在场外创建与被砍伐的阔叶林相似的新阔叶林，但传统做法太慢，只能部分复制成熟天然林的生态系统服务。问题是严峻的：恢复80%的森林可能需要150年的时间，但综合生产者必须遵守许可证，要求有证据表明很可能实现全面的生态系统补偿目标--他们必须在典型的综合开采作业的30-40年寿命内做到这一点。 在安大略省综合资源公司、Walker工业控股有限公司(及其子公司Walker Aggregates Inc.)的支持下，有人提议开发新的战略，以快速、完全和具有成本效益的方式恢复混交林。逐步植林和自然更新战略将试验性地与成核(关键树种的集群种植)和从天然林分转移表土种子库相结合，这些种子库将被移走，以进行有执照的集料作业。这将意味着从要开采的地点拯救土壤和生物群，并在已经退役的地点重新利用它们。支持迅速出现多样化和有特色的目标森林社区的各种处理组合将大大推进森林补偿做法，从而满足监管机构的要求，便利获得接近市场的资源，并提高集料行业的可持续性。在战略上，可以在加拿大各地加快森林生态恢复，以扩大和重新连接现有的森林碎片。

The Ontario Aggregate Industry generated $44.7 billion of gross production, $13 billion of labour income, $22 billion of GDP (3.5% of total GDP), and 245,000 full time jobs in terms of direct production, immediate secondary impacts and downstream impacts. Aggregates are vital to infrastructure construction on Ontario and are a finite resource. Close-to-market extraction often requires removal of mature hardwood forests which can never be restored onsite due to permanent flooding of most pits and quarries. Aggregate producers plan off-site creation of new hardwood forests resembling those removed, but conventional practices are too slow and only partially replicate the ecosystem services of mature natural forests. The issue is stark: It can take 150 years to restore 80% of a forests but aggregate producers must conform to licences requiring evidence that full ecosystem compensation goals will likely be met - and they must do this within the 30-40 year lifetime of typical aggregate extraction operations. With the support of The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation, Walker Industrial Holdings Ltd (and subsidiary Walker Aggregates Inc.), it is propose to develop new strategies for restoring mixedwoods forests - rapidly, completely and cost-effectively. Progressive forest planting and natural regeneration strategies will be experimentally combined with nucleation (cluster planting of key tree species) and translocation of topsoil seed banks from natural stands being removed for licenced aggregate operations. This will mean saving the soil and biota from sites to be quarried and reusing them on sites that have been decommissioned. Treatment combinations supporting rapid emergence of diverse and characteristic target forest communities will significantly advance forest compensation practices, thereby satisfying regulators, facilitating access to close-to-market resources and improving the sustainability of the aggregates industry. Strategically, accelerated ecological restoration of forests could be applied across Canada to expand and reconnect existing forest fragments.