Learning for Conserva tion and Revi talisation of Natural and Cultural Resources communities are affected by other factors, such as soil erosion, low nutrient levels, lack of soil organic matter, and soil acidity. As for wildlife, the ERA concluded that the COC s are not exerting a direct effect on local wildlife populations. The impact of COC s on area plant communities, however, has affected habitat quality and therefore is likely having an indirect influence on birds, mammals and other animals in Greater Sudbury. In response to these findings, the city and VETAC, City Council’s Regreening Advisory Panel, in partnership with the local mining companies, Vale and Xstrata Nickel, released Living Landscape – A Biodiversity Action Plan for Greater Sudbury in December, 2009. This Plan, which was developed with considerable input from the local community, provides a comprehensive way to address the risks to plant communities and wildlife habitat identified by the ERA. RCE Interventions As the Action Plan is implemented, ecological recovery in Greater Sudbury will enter a new phase that should lead to the establishment of healthy, diverse, self-sustaining ecosystems on formerly barren lands. Social aspects of ecological recovery, including research, education and community engagement in regreening actions and ecological monitoring are also components of the Action Plan. The small conifer seedlings that were subsequently planted on the limed soil more than 30 years ago, have now become stands of trees measuring up to 8 metres (25 feet) tall. As identified in the ERA, this is not enough – trees alone don’t make a forest. A healthy, self-sustaining forest requires soil microorganisms and insects, fungi, lichens, mosses and a broad variety of forest floor plants, as well as the birds, mammal, amphibians and reptiles that call the forest ‘home’. To help jump-start the forest development process and address the limitations outlined in the ERA, the Regreening Program embarked on a new initiative in 2010 – forest floor transplants. Thanks to a partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the Regreening Program was 24 able to salvage forest floor vegetation from areas (donor sites) cleared to accommodate a new four-lane highway just south of the city. From June to October in 2010 and 2011, crews dug up the top 4 inches (10 cm) or so of soil containing small plants, seeds, microorganisms and insects and brought them to older reclamation sites for transplanting (receptor sites). Plots established using the transplanted materials each measured 4 metres by 4 metres. Over the two seasons, almost 400 plots were completed for a total of 0.61 hectares (nearly the size of one and a half football fields). Approximately 100 different species of plants (including lichens and mosses) were collected and transplanted into Greater Sudbury’s reclamation sites. Over time, these nodes of diversity will provide a seed source for these species to disperse and colonise adjacent areas. Two small-scale test plots of this type were established in 2004 and are now thriving, spreading up to 1.5 metres from the original plot. The process is slow, but without these transplants, natural colonisation by these native plants could take hundreds of years. The forest floor transplant technique cannot be applied throughout the 84,000 hectare impacted zone due to cost and availability of material. But with enough small diverse pockets strategically placed over the landscape, the recovery of forest floor vegetation should be faster than leaving nature to do the job alone. The Regreening Program has also drastically increased the diversity of species used in its reclamation work over the past several years by planting additional species of deciduous trees and shrubs. To date, more than one third of all shrubs planted by the programme were planted in the 2011 season. The Biodiversity Action Plan identified the importance of working with the community and committed to providing opportunities for the general public to get involved in restoring the ecosystem, creating and managing wildlife habitat and tracking plants and animals in the city. In 2011, two online surveys were developed for the general public to engage in tracking animals in the city: FrogFind and the Whip-poor-will Survey. 1
Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity
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