Skip to content

Roots run deep in Sudbury's reclamation efforts

Forty years, $28 million and 9.5 million trees after reclamation efforts began, the moonscape that was once Sudbury is taking on a greener hue — but only half the job is done.
230614_aerial_sudbury
The Greater Sudbury Development Corporation (GSDC) invites citizens to share ideas to grow our city’s economic and social landscape over the next 10 years, during a series of informal “kitchen table” conversations in local neighbourhoods and communities.
Forty years, $28 million and 9.5 million trees after reclamation efforts began, the moonscape that was once Sudbury is taking on a greener hue — but only half the job is done.

A total of 81,000 hectares have been impacted by the city’s industrial activity, which started with the logging industry in the early 1800s, and intensified in the early days of mining when open roasting beds sent high levels of sulphur dioxide into the air, raining down metal particulate across the landscape.

Since its inception in 1973, VETAC (the Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee) has brought together volunteers from science, industry, academia, government and Sudbury’s citizenry to return the land to its original state, said Dr. Peter Becket, a reclamation, restoration and wetland ecologist with Laurentian University who’s dedicated his life’s work to the task. But it hasn’t been easy.

“The estimate is that we have about 7,000 hectares to do,” said Beckett, who gave the keynote address during the Nov. 20 gathering of the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

To date, 3,450 hectares have been completed and the land is coming back from devastation. In addition to rejuvenating tree populations, moss, mammals and birds are returning, and lichens are reappearing at the same rate in Sudbury as they would in an area outside of Sudbury that had been impacted by fire.

“If we look and compare the air quality in Sudbury now, we actually have some of the cleanest air in the whole province, particularly in the summer,” Beckett said. “Most people won’t believe you if you tell them we live in a city with clean air.”

Past tree-planting efforts have re-established coniferous species like pine and spruce, and VETAC is now planting more than 40 species, including fruit-producing species to attract birds, and trees and shrubs that are native to the Sudbury area.

“The more species you have, the more stable an ecosystem you have,” Beckett said.

In a new series of experiments, VETAC is teaming up with local farmers to plant biomass crops on tailings ponds. Plots of canola, switchgrass, sunflowers and willow have been established at sites in Sudbury and Timmins, with the ultimate goal being to mitigate the effects of acid drainage from the tailings, while generating a useful crop for biofuel.

“What could be greater than taking all those tailings in Northern Ontario, growing things like switchgrass or willows and then being able to send it into pellets to make electricity?” Beckett said.

Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.