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Project: Ash Storage Area
Client Flinders Power
Deliverables Field survey, seed supply, seed sowing, site maintenance, annual monitoring
Location Port Augusta, SA
Departments Ecology, Research, Restoration, Seed
Date 2016-ongoing
 
Succession Ecology was engaged to restore the Ash Storage Area (ASA) at the retired coal-fired power station near Port Augusta, SA, with the aim to reduce the risk of dust pollution. The site comprised of a 273 ha ASA, a 15 ha Coal Stockpile (CS) and a 30 ha Borrow Pit. Soil was excavated for the Borrow Pit and spread 15-cm thick across the ASA and CS. The fine particulate used in the soil cap, and the risk of contamination from the ASA, made this a particularly complicated site for restoration.

Succession Ecology employed a ground-up revegetation approach, sowing 6,000 kg of seed of native colonizer species between June 2017 and October 2018. The use of vegetation to establish a stable, self-sustaining, and resilient ecosystem on an ash pit was a world-first recovery program on an ash pit.

Services included:

  • Seed collection, cleaning, supply, and direct seeding of all areas.
  • Assessments of seed viability, seedbanks, root growth, and survivability.
  • Research trials  of soil roughening, barley and rye, watering, and dust suppressants.
  • Dust management surveys, interventions, and reporting.
  • NVC Clearance assessment, monitoring, surveys, and reporting.
  • Weed control surveys, risk assessments, and control, including Buffel Grass.

  • The surface of the ASA, before the soil cap was applied