{"id":2485,"date":"2015-06-28T20:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T03:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serchapter2018.wpengine.com\/northwest\/?p=2485"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:53:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:53:01","slug":"natural-processes-for-the-restoration-of-drastically-disturbed-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/natural-processes-for-the-restoration-of-drastically-disturbed-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Processes for the Restoration of Drastically Disturbed Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>NATURAL PROCESSES FOR THE RESTORATION OF DRASTICALLY DISTURBED SITES <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>by David Polster <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT<\/strong>: Restoration programs based on the use of natural processes can reduce the costs of restoration while providing self-sustaining restored ecosystems that re-integrate with the local recovery trajectories. Natural processes have been restoring disturbance sites (Walker 2012) since the advent of terrestrial vegetation over 450 million years ago. By following how these processes operate these recovery processes can be harnessed for the restoration of drastically disturbed sites. The first step in developing a restoration program that uses natural processes is to identify the factors or filters that are preventing or constraining natural recovery. Polster (2009) listed eight filters that are common on\u00a0many mine sites. Compaction, erosion and\u00a0 steep slopes are three of the most common filters at large mines. How do natural processes solve\u00a0 these problems? Using a model based on observation of these natural solutions to common\u00a0 problems restoration systems for drastically disturbed sites can be developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Flattening slopes\u00a0 and preparing the site using the rough and loose technique (Polster 2009) addresses these\u00a0 issues. Pioneering species such as willows, poplars and alder can be used to initiate the natural\u00a0successional processes that will restore the site (Polster 1989). In addition, the addition of\u00a0 physical structures such as large woody debris and rock piles can aid in the return of the\u00a0 functions that were associated with these structures (e.g. habitat). The use of natural processes\u00a0 and the re-establishment of ecological functions associated with these processes can greatly\u00a0 benefit the recovery of degraded sites at little or no cost to industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/serchapter2018.wpengine.com\/northwest\/files\/2015\/06\/2015-05-24-Natural-Processes-for-the-Restoration-of-Drastically-Disturbed-Sites.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NATURAL PROCESSES FOR THE RESTORATION OF DRASTICALLY DISTURBED SITES by David Polster ABSTRACT: Restoration programs based on the use of natural processes can reduce the costs of restoration while providing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,22,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-chapter-news","category-restoration-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.ser.org\/northwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}