Our results show that approximately one third of the existing seismic lines within our study landscape will fail to regenerate to a height of three metres within 50 years. Upland mesic sites showed a relatively strong ability to regenerate on their own (passive restoration), while lowland (bogs and fens) and upland dry sites were slow to recover. This suggests that active forms of restoration are required to speed vegetation recovery.
We also found a strong effect of proximity to roads, suggesting that lines closer to roads have higher levels of off-road traffic, which negatively affects regeneration along these lines. Finally, seismic lines with narrow widths and east-west orientations showed improved natural vegetation regeneration in comparison to wider widths and north-south orientations.