Natural revegetation of saline waste dumps — drought tolerant specialists and halophytes

The recultivation of saline waste dumps is of great concern in areas where they were heaped. Precipitation leaches chloridic salts, which pollute ground water and rivers. This environmental burden can be reduced by establishing a plant cover on the dumps with high rates of transpiration. Natural revegetation only takes place on saline waste dumps with layers of non-chloridic and non-toxic substrates. This indicates, that the effective technique in recultivation is to cover the dumps with soil material and seed or plant them. The results of a few years work on the natural revegetation of saline waste dumps and salt influenced locations, the varying aspects of the dumps and the different possibilities to establish plant covers are reported in this paper. The preservation of small dumps is discussed concerning rare and protected plant species growing there.