Reference site selection protocols for mine site ecosystem restoration

Reference site selection associated with mining and resource development requires a comprehensive approach so that stakeholders can be confident that restoration efforts have appropriate target ecosystems. Here, we present our process to select reference sites, within a savanna ecosystem, which will be used to develop and assess closure criteria and restoration guidelines for Ranger Mine (Northern Territory, Australia). The selection of reference sites followed five steps involving desktop and field methods. We recommend that restoration projects consider inclusion criteria, randomly select sites from areas matching the chosen criteria, conduct preliminary data analysis, estimate and update sampling effort and precession at several points throughout the project, and invite stakeholder feedback and revision of the process as often as required. This detailed approach appears to be the first to demonstrate how to use available data to reduce bias, address sampling effort and site selection quantitatively, involve stakeholders, and provide useful data which can be used to calibrate ecological restoration outcomes for savanna ecosystems