Replanting of intensely polluted soil started in 1988 and by 2008, 644 ha had been replanted,Reconstrucția..., p.16 with the Black Locust proving especially well adapted, among other species.Reconstrucția..., p.18, 20 Upon privatization of Sometra in 1998, the government, in accordance with a 1995 law, stipulated that fourteen steps would have to be taken by 2002. These would lessen the plant's environmental impact by reducing gas and toxic dust emissions. One step was to plant 40-50 ha of trees on the banks of the Târnava Mare River; trees paid for by the company were planted on 35 ha between 2000 and 2003. With Sometra shuttered, the year 2010 marked the first since measurements were taken that air pollution did not exceed legal limits. Plants began to regrow in forests that were shrinking as late as 2001. Whereas moles and hedgehogs had disappeared and rabbits and deer had migrated to cleaner areas, rabbits, foxes, wild boars and deer later returned. Isolated honeybee colonies and other insect species also reappeared.
