Utilizing indigenous prescribed burning methods to reclaim a tailings storage facility in the Southern Interior of British Columbia

Mine reclamation and closure plans have historically focused on returning disturbed lands to a vegetative community, often without consideration of the pre-existing natural vegetation. The resulting plant communities are often dominated by non-desirable, long-lived, sod-forming wheat grasses often utilized for agronomic purposes due to their heartiness and ability to grow anywhere. Once established, these plant communities often dominate, restricting native species, and enter a state with little successional advancement. As mining regulatory standards and local community engagement between stake holders have increased, the closure objective of mines have also changed.Community-engaged closure,which places more value on ecosystem function and native biodiversity,are now often the standard in Canada.Highland Valley Copper Minehas committed to working with Indigenous communities, specifically the Nlaka’pamux peoples to improve their cultural awareness and inclusion with the objective of creating sustainable benefits for Indigenous communities while also securing social license with the community to maintain business operations. Prescribed burning was traditionally used by the Nlaka’pamux people to manage their landscapes and there was interest to reintegrate fire as a management technique. A unique industry/Indigenous relationship formed to collaborate on the use of fire to reintroduce native species on a formerly reclaimed tailings storage facility. As large-scale disturbances, notably fire, have historically structured grasslands both naturally and through Indigenous cultural use, and can alter successional trajectory, I tested the effects of prescribed burning in a 24-year-old mine-reclaimed, non-desirable,grass dominated,closed tailings storage facility. Prescribed burning was applied as a means of shifting the existing plant community towards a native grassland.The objectives of this thesis were to:1) investigate if prescribed burning can successfully act as a disturbance to transition a non-desirable, low-diversity, agronomic vegetative community to a native grassland;2) examine the role fire intensity plays in the vegetative community when trying to establish native species under controlled conditions and;3) investigate the level of involvement that the Nlaka’pamux peoples played in the prescribed fire project and examine the practices that industry professionals employed to connect with this community. Fire severity was modified within the greenhouse trial at three levels (high, moderate, low) and held constant (low) in the field. Fire severity adjustments were made via modifying the fuel load and time of burning per treatment. Plant community composition shifted significantly within the greenhouse because of the burning treatment. Greater effects were found in the greenhouse trial, likely due to better control of the burn, such that native species colonization was observed.These results indicate that prescribed burning can play a significant role in structuring ecosystems and allowing the re-establishment of native plant species. My results also suggest that the level of Indigenous involvement represents a relationship formed out of necessity that was demonstrated by the role that the Nlaka’pamux fulfilled throughout the implementation of the project. The findings of this study provide important considerations for both mine reclamation practices and industry/ Indigenous relationships.