CASE STUDY: SOME LESSONS FROM THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF NATIVE FOREST REHABILITATION AT THREE SURFACE MINE COMPLEXES IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

The rehabilitation of forest and other woody vegetation ecosystems on mineral extraction sites is common place and a major post-mining land use throughout Australia. Owing to the need for government certification (under Australian Government and State legislation) for mine closure, monitoring of the establishing forests or other woody ecosystems is typically undertaken using agreed completion criteria which are predictive of rehabilitation future achievement. The collation and review of the monitoring results for the early development of the rehabilitated forests at three surface mines provide an opportunity to identify key processes and practices that might be used to enhance the achievements in Australia and elsewhere. The monitoring results for two rehabilitation schemes in sub-tropical Queensland (mineral sand and coal) and one in Western Australia (bauxite) were examined. Whilst it is evident that woody vegetation comprising several native tree and shrub species can be readily established, the resulting vegetation communities in the early development of the forest vegetation can be notably different in their composition and structure to the target and/or locally occurring native types. It is concluded that forest structural formation in combination with species composition, are of importance in establishing the predicted trajectory of the developing forest type, ecosystem, functioning, and sustainability. Species composition is likely to influence initial forest structure and the need for intervention practices, such as thinning, that may be required to achieve the necessary structural formation and ultimately the targeted native forest types. The principles established are likely to universally apply irrespective of the mineral and climatic types examined. Additional