Regreening (fertilising and tree planting) industrially degraded forest areas can improve ecosystem function in the short-term, but uncertainties exist regarding the long-term effects. Our study investigated whether nutrient distribution and cycling changed with stand age in regreened forests on a mining and smelting degraded landscape in the City of Greater Sudbury, Canada. The lack of change in foliar nutrients and nutrient cycling with stand age suggest that nutrient limitation is not inhibiting forest function 40 years following a one-time regreening treatment.