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potential, compatibility with naturally regenerating native species present in replaced topsoil, <br />• and the ability to be self-sustaining of compliment successional processes in the reclaimed plant <br />communities. Attainment of these goals, in rum, Facilitates achievement of the post mining <br />land uses. <br />Various techniques have been used to establish trees and shrubs. As early as 1993, SCC <br />planted 30 native shrub clumps containing serviceberry, sagebrush, and snowberry as a method <br />of reestablishing native species. Only the sagebrush and snowberry have survived. Experience <br />has shown that the inclusion of shrubs along with other general seed mixes tend to produce <br />relatively Eew shrubs because the competition from herbaceous plants, especially grasses, is <br />overwhelmingly oppressive. <br />SCC uses a concentrated shrub seed mix only in select areas in order to reduce the herbaceous <br />competition. This seedtnix includes: <br />Serviceberry Mt. Big Sagebrush Chokecherry <br />snowberry Antelope bitterbrush Rocky Mtn. penstemon <br />Tailcup Lupine <br />• <br />Monitoring results over the life of the entire Seneca operations indicate that changes to the <br />hydrologic regime on reclaimed steep slopes affect efforts to re-establish shrubs and trees. Much of <br />the shrub and tree mortality comes from grazing and browsing by wildlife. The direct relationship <br />between herbaceous species production and woody plant speces production is obvious over the many <br />years of data collection. As the herbaceous speces increase the woody plant species decrease. The <br />lower the annual predpitation, the higher the shrub stem counts for that yeaz. These data and <br />conclusions are taken from the Seneca Coal Co. annual revegetation monitoring reports available at <br />the mine office or the Division oEReclamadon, Mining and Safety. <br />With this in mind, additional areas are selected, based on configuration and aspect, fox <br />establishing shrub and tree plots. The general planting list includes the following species: <br />Aspen Bitterbrush Box Elder <br />Buffaloberry Chokecherry Cottonwood <br />Currant Dogwood GambelOak <br />Mtn. Mahogany Servicebetry Silver Sage <br />snowberry Willow Woods Rose <br />u <br />Select plots are fenced to exclude wildlife (deer and elk). In plots where aspens are included, <br />drip-irrigation systems are installed along with weed barrier fabric to increase the rate of early <br />survival for each aspen tree. Approximately 140,600 trees and shrubs have been planted in <br />select plots covering 70 acres (8 plots fenced and 12 plots unfenced) since 1993 at II-W. <br />Aspen Establishment Study <br />Dr. Wayne Shepperd (Research Silviculluralirt, USFS, Rocky Mountain Ih;rearch Station, Fd. Collins, CO), a <br />recognized authority on aspen regeneration and management, and SCC entered into a cooperative <br />agreement to investigate aspen reestablishment through a series of sequential experiments to be <br />conducted in a test plot on reclaimed ground at Seneca II-West. The objectives of this experimental <br />test plot aze to determine the feasibility of using irrigation to improve initial transplant survival, and if <br />successful, subsequently investigate the other questions of growth and ultimate clonal reestablishment <br />of aspen. <br />Seneca II-W/ 2006Award Nomination page 3 <br />