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<Goodell Creek Gravel Mine> 2001
2005
The Goodell Creek Gravel Mine Restoration project is a 0.7 acre portion of a 6 acre site on the eastern bank of Goodell Creek, a tributary of the Skagit River , in the North Cascades National Park Complex near Newhalem, Washington. Gravel mining ceased approximately 20 years ago at Goodell and has since been used as a construction staging and aggregate storage area. The restoration site occupies the riparian terrace zone immediately adjacent to the creek. Discontinued mines may be subject to volunteer colonization by seral native plant species overtime however, highly altered topography, lack of topsoils, risk of erosion and threat of invasive plant establishment precludes reliance on a passive approach to restoration. Techniques supporting native plant establishment and survival on former gravel mines and other disturbed sites lacking significant topsoils have involved accelerating the development of biologically active soils through the use of amendments and mulches. In this experiment, straw, woodchips, or no mulch was laid over an incorporated partially digested paper mill sludge soil amendment or no amendment in a 2 X 3 factorial design. The six treatment combinations were evaluated for their effect on the develpment of biologically active soils and the survival and growth of three native tree species and a 19 species native understory seed mix. For further details download this .pdf document: Rodney Pond. 2005. MS Thesis. Low elevation riparian forest restoration on a former gravel mine, North Cascades National Park : Native plant germination, growth, and survival in response to soil amendment and mulches Also see (not currently available in .pdf): Sean Smukler. 2003. MS Thesis. Optimizing the use of residuals as soil amendments for ecological restoration
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