Laserfiche WebLink
• • iiiiuiiiiiiiiiiii <br />RECEIVED <br />NATIVE SHRUB REGENERATION ON RECLAIMED LANDS OF <br />A SURFACE COAL MINE W NORTHWESTERN COLORADO JAN 0 31983 <br />VERN PFANNENSTIEL <br />SENECA COALS, LIMITED <br />MINED LAND RECLAMATION <br />COLO. DEPT, OF NATURAL RESOURCES <br />Increased surface coal mining activity in the western U.S. has created a variety of chal- <br />lenges and requirements for the mining industry. Reclamation efforts have increased <br />substantially in recent years, and in particular since the passage of the Surface Mine <br />Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA 1977). <br />In Colorado, rules and regulations applicable to surface coal mining operations and rec- <br />lamation have been promulgated by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board <br />(CMLRB 1980). Requirements for reclaimed lands include the establishment of plant <br />communities that meet various cover, production, species composition, diversity, and <br />woody plant density standards. <br />By necessity Then, reclamation of mined lands has developed into a process that involves <br />a variety of disciplines and requires the coordination of planning and operations staffs. <br />How these reclamaiton plans and methods are implemented in The field will dictate to a <br />large extent the level of reclamation success. <br />In areas of surface coal mining where premining vegetation consists of the mixed brush <br />or sagebrush vegetation communities, achieving postmining shrab densities (which are <br />related back To premine densities and dictated by regulatory requirements) has become a <br />point of considerable debate. Achieving high shrub density levels can be relatively <br />expensive, and also requires a high level of replanting maintenance due to high levels of <br />mortality (Crofts and Parkin 1979). <br />A means of achieving this elusive goal is to maximize natural processes of reinvasion, <br />regeneration, and succession in reclaimed areas. With the increased use of direct haul <br />topsoil (i.e., topsoil that is removed from areas to be mined and placed directly on graded <br />spoils) in reclamation efforts, natural regeneration of native woody vegetation can be <br />increased markedly (Howard and Samuel 1979). This can be further enhanced by maxi- <br />mizing the placement of the uppermost native topsoil layers on the surface of the retop- <br />soiled areas. <br />