Eco-restoration of large-scale anthropogenic disturbances in the Boreal Shield

资源公司经常在北方针叶林中造成大规模的干扰。这些地区的恢复通常有1000公顷，在技术上具有挑战性，因为这些地区不容易被陆地车辆进入。该项目的目的是为Flin Flon/Creighton地区开发一种适合在大空间范围内应用的生态恢复技术（ERT）。在Flin Flon/Creighton地区，白云质石灰岩的简单应用并没有普遍成功。我们将评估石灰化并不总是成功的原因，并开发一种土壤改良剂，以促进Flin Flon/Creighton地区的植被恢复。这些修正将首先在温室中进行测试，然后在项目的第二年开始，在田间规模的地块上应用。修正对土壤中存在的金属类型的影响以及这些金属破坏生态系统功能的能力将使用加拿大光源提供的先进技术进行评估。此外，我们将研究这些修正是如何改善土壤生态系统功能的，以及我们如何修改这些修正来解释气候变化对Flin Flon/Creighton地区的影响。最后，在五年结束时，我们将测试这些修订是否导致了Flin Flon/Creighton地区生态系统功能的可持续改善。如果成功，该项目将提供第一个适用于加拿大北部北方森林的恢复技术。该技术预计将由Prairie Plant Systems公司商业化，并可用于加拿大北部北方森林的其他资源公司。

Resource companies often cause large scale disturbances in the northern boreal forest. Restoration of these areas, often in the 1000's of hectares, is technologically challenging because these areas are not readily accessible by land vehicles. The purpose of this project is to develop an eco-restoration technology (ERT) for the Flin Flon/Creighton area that is suitable for application across large spatial extents. In the Flin Flon/Creighton area, the simple application of dolomitic limestone has not been universally successful. We will evaluate why liming is not always successful and develop a soil amendment that will promote revegetation of the Flin Flon/Creighton area. These amendments will first be tested in greenhouses and then beginning in year two of the project, applied in field scale plots. The effect of amendments on the type of metals present in the soil and the ability of these metals to disrupt ecosystem functioning will be assessed using advanced techniques available at the Canadian Light Source. In addition, we will investigate how these amendments are improving soil ecosystem functioning and how we can modify the amendments to account for the effects of climate change on the Flin Flon/Creighton area. Finally, at the end of five years, we will test if the amendments have resulted in a sustainable improvement in ecosystem functioning in the Flin Flon/Creighton area. If successful, this project will provide the first ecorestoration technology that will be suitable for application in Canada's northern boreal forests. This technology is expected to be commercialized by Prairie Plant Systems Inc. and be available to other resource companies operating in Canada's northern boreal forest.