Restoration Planning and Application of Ecological Succession Principles: United Keno Hill Mine Case Study

Restoration of post mining disturbed sites within the boreal sub-alpine ecological communities of the Yukon has varied levels of success. Employing ecological succession principles to further the science of restoration of northern ecosystems on post- mining sites will contribute to the restoration body of knowledge. It will allow us to gain a better understanding of how to restore northern boreal forest sites where climate and poor soil development pose unique challenges for restoration. The re-establishment of ecosystems to conditions that once supported community and traditional land uses are another challenge in this region. Understanding how ecosystems respond to restoration designs will inform regulators and practitioners and therefore contribute to establishment of best practices policies.
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the use of ecological succession principles to increase restoration success and ecosystem functional sustainability in the north, coupled with applying the planning tool "SMART". To demonstrate the application of ecological succession principles, this paper will use the former United Keno Hill Mine (UKHM) site in the Yukon as an example. The goal for the former UKHM site is to establish communities containing pioneer species that, over time, will be self- propagating on boreal low to subalpine bio-climate units. In this paper we will apply the "SMART" planning tool to describe how to define goals and how to successfully establish appropriate objectives and targets to support this goal.