Rehabilitated Mine-Site Management, Soil Health and Climate Change

Abstract

This chapter discusses the current approaches to measuring rehabilitation success and considers how rehabilitation practices can impact on soil health using two industrial-scale case studies: (1) jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest rehabilitation following bauxite mining for alumina, and (2) rehabilitation of bauxite-processing residue storage areas in Western Australia. The strategies used during rehabilitation of mine-sites or other highly disturbed environments play a large role in shaping the attributes of the developing ecosystem and thus its long-term sustainability. Rehabilitation practices can alter the aboveground plant species composition, diversity and density as well as belowground soil properties and functions. Rehabilitation strategies at the design and initial implementation stage, as well as the management of existing sites, can be modified to ensure maximum adaptive capacity and long-term sustainability of the rehabilitated ecosystem in a changing climate. The factors that require consideration to achieve these aims are discussed.