Ecological Conservation in Doon-Mussoorie Mining Impacted Area

Mining for the extraction of the rich mineral resource of the Himalayan region has been going on since long. In view of the fact that Himalayas are rich in mineral resources and the fact that exploitation of these minerals brings revenue to the otherwise poor hill states, there has been continuous pressure from industrial sector of the country for these minerals. Limestone, phasphorite, gypsum magnetite and coal especially have been exploited most. The single most important mineral, which has been extensively mined in all regions of Himalaya, is limestone. Next to limestone in order of importance, number of leases and production is phosphate. In Uttaranchal hills limestone mining started much earlier but has now come down considerably after the intervention of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in 1985. Mining affects the environment in vary diverse ways depending on the type of mining are excavated and ore over burden ratio etc. the resultant environment is not suitable directly for any productive use be it agriculture, forestry, pasture, recreation etc. Environmental amelioration of such degraded sites is a challenging task. In the past mining, particularly open cast mining caused the destruction of land resources, pollution of streams, contamination of ground water aquifers and other environmental problems. Due to lack of regulations and concern for the environment mining industry have left millions of hectares of unreclamied abandoned mine lands all over the world and same us true of India also. It has been correctly stated that only war caused more destruction to the environment than surface mining. Doon-Mussoorie hill which was known for the its rich resource like limestone, marble, gypsum and rock phosphate has experienced vast environmental problems due to reckless quarrying of mineral from these areas. The total of 6719.81 ha of land is impacted by mining activities. Due to increasing ecological awareness; reclamation projects stress is given to local species but in some cases depending upon site, climate and dump characteristics. Moreover, rehabilitation of mined land is site specific; the unique properties of each mine determine the degree of vegetation establishment within the constraint of local climate. Evaluation of species is primarily concerned with survival followed by growth, but initial selection should include effective soil stabilization, soil improvement and case of propagation. For early cover primary colonizing species tend to be used. Local species may require less long-term maintenance and provide compatibility with surroundings landscape. Thus achievement of self-sustaining vegetation cover can be approached through selection and planting of native species. Surface mining plays an important role in impacting the biodiversity of area in most of the sites. Regeneration of such sites takes a long time and the changes are very unpredictable. Restoration of mining disturbed sites however, accelerates the process by initializing the vegetative growth on these sites. Evaluation a biological diversity from conservation point of view in disturbed areas focuses on measuring richness and not more complex indices of heterogeneity. More frequently the number of species in certain and vegetation types are measured but occasionally biotic features are used. Peculiarity and availability of propagules determine the pattern of floristic diversity and succession, still resource availability is also an important factor affecting the species diversity and succession. The main objective of restoration would be satisfied when importance is given on surface stabilization, long term landuse planning, ecosystem approach and adopting sustainable development strategy for the degraded ecosystem.