Current reclamation practices after oil and gas development do not speed up succession or plant community recovery in big sagebrush ecosystems in Wyoming

Abstract

Reclamation is an application of treatment(s) following disturbance to promote succession and accelerate the return of target conditions. Previous studies have framed reclamation in the context of succession by studying its effectiveness in reestablishing late-successional plant communities. Reestablishment of plant communities is especially important and challenging in drylands such as shrub steppe ecosystems where succession proceeds slowly. These ecosystems face threats from climate change, invasive species, altered fire regimes, and land-use change, as well as fossil-fuel extraction and associated disturbance. As such, the need for effective reclamation after this type of energy development is great. However, past research regarding this type of reclamation has focused on mining rather than oil and gas development. To better understand the effect of reclamation on rates of succession in dryland shrub steppe ecosystems, we sampled oil and gas wellpads and adjacent undisturbed big sagebrush plant communities in Wyoming, U.S.A., and quantified the extent of recovery for forbs, grasses, and shrubs on reclaimed and unreclaimed wellpads relative to undisturbed plant communities. Reclamation increased the recovery rate for early-successional types, including combined forbs and grasses and perennial grasses, but did not affect recovery rate of late-successional types, particularly big sagebrush and perennial forbs. Rather, subsequent analyses showed that recovery of late-successional types was affected by soil texture and time since wellpad abandonment. This is consistent with studies in other ecosystems where reclamation has been implemented, suggesting that reclamation may not help reestablish late-successional plant communities more quickly than they would reestablish naturally.

Understory Vegetation Change Following Woodland Reduction Varies by Plant Community Type and Seeding Status: A Region-Wide Assessment of Ecological Benefits and Risks

“…Lastly, perennial and annual grass seedlings strongly compete with sagebrush seedlings and can greatly reduce nutrient acquisition, growth, and survival of sagebrush seedlings [ 178 , 222 , 223 ]. In particular, rapid establishment of seeded perennial grasses can hinder the establishment of new sagebrush seedlings and slow sagebrush recovery on restoration sites [ 151 , 165 , 224 , 225 ].…”

Does habitat reclamation following energy development benefit songbird nest survival?

“…Reclamation of oil and gas disturbances is associated with specific regulations which involve the removal of infrastructure, recontouring (reshaping the disturbed area to the original contour of the surrounding landform), preparation of topsoil surface, and broadcasting of authorized seed mixes over the reclaimed areas (U.S. Bureau of Land Management 2003, Pyke et al 2015, Rottler et al 2018. Post-development reclamation is assumed to provide some immediate benefits to negatively effected wildlife by removing potential population stressors, such as above ground infrastructure and; therefore, is put forward as a mitigation measure for sagebrush associated species of conservation concern (U.S.…”

“…Fish and Wildlife Service 2013, Clement et al 2014). Much research has focused on the recovery of soil and vegetation following reclamation of disturbances in the sagebrush ecosystem (Avirmed et al 2015, Davies et al 2013, Gasch et al 2016, Rottler et al 2018). Yet, little research has looked at the response of sagebrush associated wildlife to reclamation following oil and gas disturbance (Barlow et al 2020).…”

“…The recovery of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is particularly challenging because it is a slow growing shrub (Baker 2011, Rottler et al 2018. Wyoming big sagebrush (A. t. wyomingensis), the dominant sagebrush species in our study area, can take more than 80 years to return to pre-disturbance size and structure (Baker 2011, Gasch et al 2016, Avirmed et al 2015, Rottler et al 2018.…”

Hydraulic and photosynthetic responses of big sagebrush to the 2017 total solar eclipse

“…S1). Many of these communities are considered to be at risk given climatic uncertainty and habitat fragmentation due to urbanization and energy extraction 22–24 . We chose big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata Nutt.)…”