User:Wren42p/Landfills in the United States

There is a movement among Category 1 closures to create more habitat restoration initiatives. Particular examples such as the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, New York which closed in 2001, show how biodiversity can be fostered through replanting trees over landfills. Creating habitats using native species can be complicated by many environmental factors, but using experimental plantings can be beneficial to the beginning stages of restoration. The Fresh Kills Landfill is an example of an urban landfill restoration that turned parts of the world's largest landfill into an urban green space. These types of restorations are effective, however, as the U.S develops more and more land and destroys native habitats, efforts towards restoring grasslands are becoming more concentrated around the country. Despite changing environmental conditions due to climate change, habitat restorations of landfills have proven to be effective examples of biodiversity preservation. Closed landfills become ideal places for grassland restoration because their caps allow grasses to flourish on the flat, open field that was once the landfill. The Croton Point landfill in the Hudson Valley of New York State is an example of successful grasslands restoration and it is part of a pattern of closures in the Northeast with many more landfills set to close by 2050.

There are many ecosystem service benefits to these pockets of diverse grasslands. These restored grasslands can become havens for grassland birds looking for places to live among the landscape fragmented by human development. Pollinators, insects, birds, and other animals can foster new ecosystems that might be unique in their fragmentation and seed dispersal. One international study from the Czech Republic found that the number of species recorded in a closed landfill increased to a level rivaling the surrounding environments or greater. A mix of native species and new "invasive" species increased the overall diversity of plants in the area contributing more herbs and woody-stemmed species. At the landfill in the Czech Republic, the number of species increased from 94 to 195 in the 8 year study period.