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detoxifying the soil. It was also found that once a sparse grass cover was estab- lished, seeds of the few remaining stunted poplars, willows and bitches in the neighbourhood would blow in, ger- minate and become established. In 1974, after three years of small- scale experimentation, the technique was tried out on a six-acre barren plot of land in the valley of Coniston Creek. In mid-August, after the dry part of the summer was over, the soil surface was roughened using an agricultural barrow; then, limestone, fertilizer and Canada Blue Grass seed were applied using agâ€" ricultural Spreaders. The ground was harrowed once more to incorporate the seeds and additives, The resultin the first year was a sparse green sward of grass. But as the years progressed, more and more wildflower, shrub and tree species appeared spontaneously and thrived. Because such flat, sandy, accessible areas formed only a fraction of the barren land, attention was turned in 1974 to the inaccessible stony barren hillsides that lined the highways and railways entering Sudbury. In these new experiments, ground limestone, fertilizer and grass seeds were thrown onto the soil surface by hand, and no attempt was made to till the soil or work in the materials. Never- theless, the stony mantle trapped the lime, fertilizer and seeds, while at the same time conserving moisture. A grassy covering developed, soon fol- lowed, spontaneously, by poplar, birch and willow seedlings. In order to try the technique on a slightly larger scale, I found an elemen- tary school surrounded by barren land, and obtained the Principal‘s permission to explain my project to the Grade 7 and 8 students. I invited them to spend a half-day in mid-August working on an acre of barren land beside their school. This approach was successful v firstat SL Hubert’s School in the West End in 1975, then at St Paul the Apostle School in Coniston in 1977. The seed mixture of five grass species, with nitrogen-fixing Alsike Clover and Birdsfoot Trefoil in- cluded, was applied at a low enough rate that the open cover allowed birch, poplar and willows to colonize spontaneously. In 1978, the mining companies an- nounced layoffs and a summer shutdown, depriving numerous post- secondary students of summer employment. Bill Lautenbach, a planner with the Regional Municipality of Sudbury, was aware of my research, and he proposed that the Region apply for job-creation funds through the federal Young Canada Works program. That summer, 174 students worked on several different land reclamation projects, in- cluding the grassing of 285 acres of barren land, at a total cost of $140,000. The Regional Municipality and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Affairs paid for the supplies and equipment, with material support from Inco andFal- conbridge. To date, 11.6 square miles of barren and semi-barren [and have been revegetated. Since 1978, similar programs have been run annually. The manpower com- ponent reached its peak in 1983 when 1,277 unemployed persons were hired for land reclamation. Funding for this peak year came from federal, provincial and regional government agencies and Irtco, with material support from Falcon- bridge. To date, 11.6 square miles of barren and semi-barren land have been revege- tated by the Regional Land Reclamation Program. In addition, the predominantly broad-leafed nature of the trees that coloâ€" nize spontaneously was offset by the planting of more than one million treeâ€" seedlings, mmtly pines. The "plantation" effect was avoided by placâ€" ing the trees in informal groups with the goal of creating an aesthetically appeal- ing and ecologically balanced landscape. The Program has received widespread acclaim, including: I: the 1990 Arboricultural Award of Merit; It the 1990 Lieutenant Govemor’s Con- servation Award; the Government of Canada Environ- mental Achievement Award; l: the United States 1992 Chevron Cou- servation Award; and, II the 1992 United Nations Local Govern- ment Honours Award presented at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The revegetated lands constitute a liv- ing laboratory. Research continues on such diverse topics as metal uptake by reclamation species and nitrogen fixaâ€" tion from the atmosphere by clovers. A major research emphasis over the next few years will centre on the re-estab- ljshment of some of the less obvious plants and animals. If we wish to retum to a “normal” forested landscape, we must assist recolonization by woodland wildflowers, as well as by small benefi- cial, litterâ€"eating animals like mites and springtails (primitive Wingless insects). A current strategy involves the transfer of small blocks of forest floor soil to revegetated sites, and the measurement of rate of spread, if any, of these plants and animals. A century from now, the Sudbury land- scape may not look all that different from any other part of northern Ontario. And it would be unfortunate if residents and visitors forgot an important part of their heritage. For this reason, we plan to pre- serve an area of untreated barren land and an area of treated land as an outdoor museum, where future generations can not only learn history, but also some applied ecology. Although the preserved barrens will probably not be barren forâ€" ever, they will retain unique characteristics of great interest and value to scientists, as well as to the casual observer. Keith Winierhalder is anArsociate Professor in the Department of Biology at Laurentian University in Sudbury. Home 25 Country, Spring 1993 13