Planting on Copper Cliff CVRD mine sites.

• Author: Ulrichsen, Heidi
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: FORESTRY

There could be a day in the distant future when former mine sites are filled with large pine trees blowing in the breeze, instead of barren expanses of rock and sand.

CVRD Inco has been planting trees for 40 years as part of its internationally-renowned environmental reclamation work.

Environmental engineer Quentin Smith said it would be quite difficult to return mine sites in the Sudbury area to how they were before forestry and mining began in the late 1800s and early 1900s, however, he can see a day, perhaps 200 years in the future, when there are mature trees on abandoned mine sites.

"For all of our operating sites, we do have closure plans," he says.

"That's something we're mandated to do under the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. It basically states we have to return these mine sites to a natural state."

"I have every confidence that in 200 years, the re-greening work that we're doing will start to pay dividends. We will definitely see some mature trees. Even if you look around the tailings areas, some trees are now 40 years old. They're not terribly large, mind you."

In some areas, trees seem to appear on their own without any seedlings being planted.

Smith removes mine waste material like slag, and replaces it with clay and earth. He then seeds the clay, and within a few years, "pioneer" trees like birch and poplar start to grow.

Hardy evergreen trees like red pine and jack pine are planted in some areas by CVRD Inco employees and community groups. Smith said he can remember planting trees as a child in the 1980s with his Boy Scout troop.

The trees are grown in a greenhouse in Copper Cliff and 4,700 feet underground in the Creighton Mine, where the warm conditions incubate tree seeds quickly.

"We have a pretty good success rate with these little seedlings."

"The two tree species that we pick are red and jack pine. They are very hardy and tolerant of acidic soil conditions. We used to grow white pine and spruce as well, but we stopped because they're not as hardy. They're more an ornamental species."

Steve Dominy works for the federal government's Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.

He has done research on how planting trees on unused lands could help the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions and comply with Kyoto protocol commitments.

Most of his research involved abandoned farmland, but he said it applies to former mine sites as well.

Under the Kyoto agreement, industries can receive credits for planting...