Ecosystem Rehabilitation Dataset

Restoring ecosystems affected by surface mining depends on monitoring that shows whether rehabilitation is succeeding. Field surveys and satellite imagery are often limited by cost, spatial resolution or how often they can be repeated, especially when many small or fragmented sites have to be followed.

This dataset supports a study that used visible imagery from drones (UAVs) to estimate within-season change in fractional green and dead vegetation cover at three sites at different stages of rehabilitation in southern Ontario, Canada, and produced high-resolution cover maps for each site.

These maps and field data can support the monitoring and management of rehabilitated surface-mining sites. The low-cost drone approach can be used to track vegetation recovery through the growing season, detect sites where recovery has stalled, evaluate soil amendments and seeding strategies, and decide where follow-up work is most needed, as well as to complement field surveys and satellite monitoring of small or fragmented sites and to inform best-practice guidelines for rehabilitation.