An ITTO Fellowship Grant Helps Show Potential of Mixed Local Tree Species for evegetating Tin Mine Tailings in Indonesia

Abstract

Reliance on natural succession to restore sand tin tailings without any human aid can be very slow (Mitchell 1959; Nurtjahya et al. 2007a). Natural regeneration after up to 11 years on tin-mined land in Indonesia was dominated by shrub species of the Cyperaceae and Poaceae families while shrub species of the Myrtaceae family were still common on 38-year old tin-mined lands. The cation exchange capacity and concentrations of soil nutrients (Ca, Mg, K, and Na) of tin-mined lands were lower than undisturbed land, and the carbon to nitrogen ratio of tin-mined lands was higher than undisturbed lands (Nurtjahya et al. 2007a), inhibiting natural regeneration of tree species.