>>2532990>The thought of justifying an ecosystem's destruction because it "opens up the forest" or "adds variation" seems evil to meShut up retard. No I don't think we should steam roll entire mountain tops and turn it into bare rock (+ acid mine pollution), but if it's already been done then there's a perfect opportunity to create a unique ecosystem there. There are many species that depend on the sort of early ecosystem that are created by disturbances such as wildfires or in this case strip mining. An old mine is perfect because the bare rock and thin soil allows only hardy pioneer species such as pine trees along with plants that need dry sun such as cactus and other lithophytes.
