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Aspen Harvesting Plan for the Yoast Mine <br />Seneca Coal Company ISCCI will harvest aspen (Popu/us tremu/aides Michx.) saplings from select <br />upland sites within the Yoast Mine permit boundary for transplanting to the Seneca II-W Mine area. <br />Exhibit 22-2, Aspen Harvesting Areas, shows the areas where the aspen saplings will be harvested. <br />The aspen sapling transplant stock will be harvested where aspen clones have vegetatively <br />regenerated in surficial disturbance areas. This will allow critical aspen substrate characteristics to be <br />maintained as well as minimize soil resource disturbance. Transplant stock will be selected from along <br />the edges of successfully suckering clones. Aspen suckers growing at the edges of existing clones are <br />more likely to have smaller, more independent roots than those that arise along older connecting roots <br />between large trees. Transplant candidates will be 4-6 feet in height, without forks, disease, or <br />damage that might affect survival. <br />The aspen sapling stock will be transplanted to the aspen test plot and aspen planting areas at the <br />Seneca II-W Mine. The transplant stock will be moved when dormant, i.e., in the fall after leaves <br />drop. Approximately 400 saplings will be transplanted to both the aspen test plot and the aspen <br />planting area. The saplings will be individually harvested using ahydraulically-drive tree spade. This <br />technique will minimize soil resource disturbance and maintain the clone root structure far the <br />remaining saplings. The saplings will be planted in individually dug holes. To help balance root/shoot <br />ratios and transpiration loads, each tree will be pruned from the bottom so that only the terminal leader <br />and one whorl of lateral branches remain. <br />MR-22 22.3-1 Revised 09/04 <br />