Revegetation in Arctic and Subarctic North America --A Literature Review Relevant to the Rehabilitation of Abandoned Oil and Gas Fields in Alaska
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.,• DRAR Revegetation in Arctic and Subarctic North America --A Literature Review Relevant to the Rehabilitation of Abandoned Oil and Gas Fields in Alaska Karen L. Oakley Habitat Biologist Habitat Division Alaska Department of Fish and Game Anchorage, Alaska June 29, 1984 ABSTRACT Written to provide Habitat Division staff with the background information necessary to review oil and gas field rehabilitation plans, this paper describes p1 ant succession in tundra and taiga, summarizes results from recent seeding projects, and recommends guidelines. The recommended strategy relies on the natural recolonization potential of tundra and taiga by advocating that topsoil be stockpiled and reused. Topsoil contains nutrients and plant propagules, and, if replaced, seeding should only be necessary on erodible slopes. If seeding is required, a native species mix should be sown. Reliance on native species, whether seeded naturally or artificially, will enhance restoration and reduce costs. The applicability of these methods for rehabilitating North Slope oilfields is unproven, and more research is recommended. -i- TABLE of CONTENTS Page No. Abstract................................................. i List of Tables ........................................... iii Introduction............................................. 1 Definitions......................................... 1 Significance and Need for this Review ..•••••••.••••• 2 Revegetation through Natural Succession ••.••••••••••.•••• 6 Succession after Disturbance of Tundra ..••••••••.••• 7 Succession after Disturbance of Taiga ••••••••••••••• 9 Comparison of Tundra and Taiga Succession ••••••..••• 11 Revegetation through Seeding Programs .•..••.••••••••••••• 13 Species used in Seeding Trials ••••.•••••••.••••••••• 13 Seeding Program Methods ...••••.•••.••••••••••••••••. 20 Reinvasion by Native Species after Seeding ••.•••..•• 23 Revegetation of Berms and Gravel Structures ••••••••• 24 Seeding Program Costs •..••••••••.•••••••••.••••••••• 26 Rehabilitation of Abandoned Oil and Gas Fields ••••••••.•• 28 Discussion .......................................... 28 Recommendations ...........•.................•....... 29 Literature Cited ......................................... 31 Appendix A. Species used in seeding trials in Alaska and northwest Canada between 1969 and 1983. Appendix B. Revegetation guidelines recommended by Kubanis (1982) for the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System. -ii- LIST of TABLES Page No. 1. Text of lease term requiring ..•....•.•.•••....••••..••• 1 rehabilitation of oil and gas facilities sites after abandonment. 2. Producing and abandoned onshore oil and 3 gas fields in Alaska. 3. Disturbance-related seeding studies in .••.•.••••••••••• 14 Alaska and northwest Canada. -iii- INTRODUCTION The State of Alaska initiated an oil and gas leasing program in 1959 and since then has leased over seven million acres (Alaska Department of Natural Resources 1984). Major discoveries of gas in the Cook Inlet region and of oil on the North Slope are currently being produced. As an integral part of the leasing process, the state has sought to prevent and mitigate the potential adverse effects of oil and gas exploration and development through lease stipulations and terms. One such lease term (Table 1) requires that all drilling sites, roads, buildings, airstrips, and other facilities be removed and the site rehabilitated after abandonment. The Department of Natural Resources, which administers the leasing program, consults with the Department of Fish and Game, as well as the Department of Environmental Conservation, about the adequacy of rehabilitation plans. This paper, which reviews the literature on revegetation of disturbed northern lands, was written to provide the background information necessary to review such rehabilitation plans. Because the state oil and gas leasing program is still active with three sales scheduled per year through 1988 (Alaska Department of Natural Resources 1984), the department also wanted to determine if there were any steps lessees should be advised to take prior to and during development that would increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation. Table 1. Text of lease term requiring rehabilitation of oil and gas facilities sites after abandonment. "Upon abandonment of drilling sites, roads, buildings, airstrips or other facilities, such facilities wi 11 be removed and the site rehabi 1ita ted, unless the Director, Division of Oil and Gas, after consultation with the departments of Fish and Game and Environmental Conservation, determines that such removal and rehabilitation is not in the state's interest." Definitions Revegetation is simply the establishment of a vegetative cover on disturbed lands (Johnson and Van Cleve 1976). Revegetation occurs naturally as most ecosystems contain pioneer species able to colonize disturbed sites. Artificial revegetation generally employs agronomic species, often grasses. In Alaska, these agronomics are often exotic species, although commercial seed supplies of several native grasses have recently been developed {Mitchell 1979). Restoration is to bring a disturbed area back to its former condition. The process of restoration often includes artificial revegetation, especially on erodible sites. Artificial revegetation may facilitate restoration by building up organic material in the soil and restoring nutrient cycles and thermal and hydraulic regimes or may have no effect on establishment of native species (Chapin and Chapin 1980). Artificial revegetation can interfere with restoration, however, if the species used are weedy and -1- restrict establishment of native species. While disturbed areas can often be naturally or artificially revegetated in the same year as the disturbance, restoration takes much longer -- on the order of tens to hundreds, even thousands, of years. Rehabilitation is not as easily defined, but a workable definition probably lies somewhere between the simple establishment of a vegetative cover and the difficult restoration of a site to its original condition. No consistent definition of rehabilitation emerges from the literature. Johnson and Van Cleve (1976) referred to rehabilitation as techniques used to prevent erosion. In the dictionary, rehabilitation is synonymous with restoration. Cairns (1982) suggested that rehabilitation include restoration with the addition of favorable site characteristics not formerly present. In this sense, rehabilitation includes enhancement, which involves recovery to a more socially acceptable condition without reference to the site's original condition. Here, rehabilitation will be defined as the recovery of a disturbed site to a biologically productive, self-perpetuating condition that is consistent with land management in the surrounding area. This definition thereby includes restoration in the strict sense and the enhancement option of the Cairns definition. Significance and Need for this Review Oil and gas exploration and development is currently the dominant economic force in Alaska. Both federal and state governments have been active lessors of their land for oil and gas exploration and development, and, as a result of their leasing programs, six oil fields and 19 gas fields have been developed onshore in Alaska. Of these 25 fields, nine are still producing (Table 2). The largest currently producing oil fields in Alaska, the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields, are on North Slope state lands. Because Alaska is thought to contain over half of the United States' domestic petroleum reserves, the petroleum industry is likely to drive the Alaskan economy for the foreseeable future. Both federal and state governments are continuing to lease, and much of the acreage to be offered in the next few years is onshore. During 1984 and 1985, the Bureau of Land Management will make eight offerings of federal onshore land, and eleven of 15 1ease sa 1es proposed by the state between 1984 and 1988 wi 11 offer onshore lands (Alaska Department of Natural Resources 1984). On federally-leased land, surface management authority, including authority over rehabilitation, resides within the Department of the Interior with either the Bureau of Land Management, Geological Survey, or Fish and Wildlife Service. On state land, surface management authority resides within the Department of Natural Resources in the Division of Land and Water Management. Except when an anadromous stream is involved, the Department of Fish and Game has no statutory or regulatory authority over surface management of oil and gas fields on either state or federal land. However, it is state policy to protect fish and wildlife during the course of oil and gas development (Department of Natural Resources 1984:4), and the Department of Natura 1 Resources consults the Department of Fish and Game about the implications of surface management plans for fish and wildlife. -2- Table 2. Producing and abandoned onshore oil and gas fields in Alaska. S = state land, F = federal land, N = native land Producing Fields Abandoned Fields oil gas oil gas North Slope Kuparuk-S East Barrow-N Umiat-F Kavik-S Prudhoe Bay-S South Barrow-N Kemik-S Cook Inlet Beaver Creek-F Kenai-S/F Albert Kaloa-S Swanson River-F Sterling-S Birch Hill-S West Fork-S Ivan River-S Lewis River-S Stump Lake-S Theodore River-S Falls Creek-F North Fork-F Swanson River-F West Foreland-F Nicolai Creek-S/F Moquawkie-N Other Katalla-F Reference: Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (1984). -3- While none of the currently producing fields on state