Many after-uses of aggregate extraction land do exist: forestry, agriculture, recreation, nature reserves, housing and waste disposal sites. Attempts at reclaiming this land for alternate uses has been carried out by some pit and quarry operators' in Southern Ontario. Two sites will be discussed outlining practices and procedures towards rehabilitation of the extracted areas.
The first site operated by T.C.G. Materials Ltd. near Brantford, Ontario comprises nearly 400 acres with final rehabilitation plans in progress. A nearby farm is now harvesting corn on a rehabilitated 6 acre portion of the site and achieving a first year return of 65 bushels per acre. Winter wheat will be harvested from another portion later this year. Normal farming operations are expected to be achieved as the soil condition improves.
The second site operated by Nelson Crushed Stone near Burlington, Ontario consists of 500 acres of which approximately 50 acres have been rehabilitated into trout ponds and pasture land. The pond, stocked with healthy rainbow trout prove that the quarry is not a cause of water pollution. This has been a point of interest for visitors, but equally important, provides the company with much better relations between their neighbors and the municipality
in which they operate.
While these examples only represent a portion of the unrehabilitated lands throughout Ontario, they do illustrate the capabilities of rehabilitation. The technology of rehabilitation has progressed so that virtually any type of land use can be achieved. There are, however, many areas of rehabilitation which require further study and documentation. Attempts are now being made to encourage operators to document their rehabilitation plans so that techniques which I am about to discuss can be compared and analysed.