Researchers use new reforestation technique at site of Brumadinho disaster

A new approach to reforesting native trees, drawn up by researchers from the forest engineering department of the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, is being tested in the area affected by the Brumadinho dam disaster of 2019. 

On January 25 of that year, an iron ore tailings dam operated by mining firm Vale collapsed, killing 270 people and causing untold environmental damage to the surrounding region.

Another three areas in the vicinity of mining dams in Minas Gerais are also being assessed for implementation, which will also take place in the surroundings of the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric complex in the northern state of Pará.

Dubbed “DNA extraction and early forestry induction in native plant species,” the technique uses grafting and hormones prepared specifically for each species of tree. It had a patent request accepted three years ago and is already the subject of a March 2020 scientific article in the journal Annals of Forest Research.

“Trees such as the golden trumpet tree or jequitibá take eight to ten years to reach adulthood. With this technique, they take one year to flower,” says forest engineer Gleison dos Santos, the UFV professor in charge of the research. A tree is considered to have reached adulthood when it begins reproducing, by way of generating flowers, fruits, and seeds.

The work begins with a visit by forest engineers to the affected area, to see which native species exist and identify specimens that are unlikely to survive the damage — which, in the case of Brumadinho, was caused by mud containing iron ore tailings. 

The next step is to collect branches from trees’ crowns and take them to the UFV’s nursery, where they are grafted to another tree of the same species or family, producing a copy of the original tree.

As part of this process, the plant is exposed to a set of growth-regulator hormones, prepared specifically by UFV for each...