Soils and Vegetation of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Route: A 1999 Survey

Abstract

This report presents the results of a survey of soil s and vegetation along the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) right-o f-way (ROW) from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. This survey, conducted in the summer of 1999, was designed to secure an overall perspective of the soil fertility and general vegetation conditions in the ROW and in the undisturbed habitat immediately adjacent to the ROW. Researchers examined 52 sites along the 800-mile ROW, which crosses three vegetation zones: tundra, alpine, and boreal (includes coastal forest). Soil samples were collected for laboratory analysis of plant nutrients, vascular plant species were inventoried, and photographs were taken at each site. This information can be used to assess the impacts of TAPS on vegetation and the success or failure of revegetation efforts performed during pipeline construction in the 1970s and to make recommendations for revegetation of future disturbed areas in regions similar to the TAPS ROW. The Federal Agreement and Grant of Right-of-Way for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System requires that seeding and planting of disturbed areas be conducted as soon as practicable and, if necessary, repeated until vegetation was successful. As a res ult , a reasdisturbed during pipe line construction were revegetated by seeding grasses and fertilizing soil s and by planting willow cuttings and transplants from natural sources and greenhouse production. Seeding and fertilizing were the most extensively used applications along the route. Transpl anted trees and shrubs were used where the pipeline crossed public roads, in order to shield the view of the open ROW from the highway. Native and non-native grasses were seeded. As a res ult, some weeds were introduced and grasses were established, some of which have persisted.