A four year study has been carried out to determine the ability of coniferous trees to aid in the reclamation of uranium tailings at Elliot Lake. Five species were planted: white cedar, white spruce, jack pine, scotch pine and red pine. Over 570 bare root, two year old seedlings were planted on bare tailings and in areas of established grasses. A further division was made between areas of coarse and fine tailings.
Overall survival and growth of the trees has been far below expectations from previous experience with several varieties of grasses. The criteria for assessment have been percent survival and yearly growth increases as estimated by plant height. Pine species were superior with survival percentages of 68% for bare coarse tailings, 45% for vegetated coarse tailings, and 34% for vegetated fine tailings. Cedar was the worst with survival percentages of 49%, 14% and 7% respectively. No species survived on bare fine tailings.
The survival and growth of the coniferous trees have been related to the species, environmental conditions and the tailings properties.