After the goldrush : the success of ecological restoration following mining in the Box and Ironbark Forests, North Central Victoria

The new science of restoration ecology offers those who work towards ecological restoration an evaluative framework for measuring success. This research project considers the restoration work carried out on four mined sites in the Box and Ironbark Forest Ecosystem of North Central Victoria. To measure success, vegetation cover and height, along with thirteen environmental variables and three site characteristics, were recorded in four mine sites and compared to nearby forest controls. It was found that mined sites had fewer native species than the control sites, and soil fertility and litter cover were less. Five floristic communities were described from the mined areas and controls, two of which are restricted to mined areas. Global Non-parametric Multi Dimensional Scaling of the vegetation data and vector fitting of the environmental and site variables also showed that strong floristic differences exist between mined and control areas at most sites. As restoration attempts were similar at each site, ecosystem resilience was considered as the main contributing factor to the different degrees of success. It was found that mined areas with prolonged disturbance regimes shared less in common with their control. Weed cover was not found to be significantly different between the controls and mined areas. This study serves as baseline data for long term research and recommends that clear goals and objectives need to be implemented in determining successful mine site restoration in the Box and Ironbark Ecosystem.