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<br />be successful enough to expand to a reasonable volume of perhaps 200-300 <br />shoots per year. <br />One problem encountered has been the shoot growth because of fungal growth <br />on the surface of the soil. The major problem is again related to climate. <br />The shoots must be hardened before transplanting to the fielc to prepare <br />them for the wind, sun and cold. Even with hardening, a good 3eneral rule <br />is to wait until July before transplanting them. Freezing temperatures are <br />not uncommon in the high mountains through the month of June. Again, the <br />expected 3-yr survival rate is about 50 percent. <br />Mycorrhizal Fungi Research <br />The survival of evergreen tree seedlings planted on mine wastes has been <br />less than 50 percent. Approximately 60 to 70 percent of the lorigepole pine <br />and Engelmann spruce seedlings planted on mine waste at Urad during 1975 <br />were lost during the first winter. The cause is probably a combination of <br />physiological stresses encountered on the very exposed, windblown surface of <br />the tailing ponds. Another cause may be the unavailability of the material <br />of appropriate ecotype. <br />In an effort to produce a seedling capable of withstanding the severe <br />physiological stresses, AMAX funded a 3-yr research program to investigate <br />the feasibility of growing mycorrhizal-inoculated tree seedlings for use in <br />revegetation of mine wastes. The principal investigator is Dr. C.P.P. Reid, <br />CSU Department of Forest and Wood Sciences, who is aided by Steve <br />Grossnickle, a graduate student. <br />There are no results to report to date because the first year has been spent <br />culturing the various fungi and growing seedlings in the greenhouse in the <br />inoculated growth medium. The seedlings were transplanted in the spring of <br />1977. A 4 x 32 factorial experimental design will examine interactions of <br />four mycorrhizal treatments three tree species and three fertilization <br />treatments (replicated three times). <br />31 <br />