GENERAL54382

• Permit No: C1982057
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 2/15/2006
• Doc Name: Aspen Transplant Study 1st Year Report
• From: DTM
• To: SB1
• Permit Index Doc Type: Vegetation
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman S[., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
COLORADO
DIVISION O F
MINERALS
GEOLOGY
0.EC LA NATIGN•NINING
SAFETY•SCIENCE
DATE: February 15, 2006 Bill Owens
Govemar
Russell George
TO: Sandy Brown ///~~~ Executive Director
. / / Ronald W. Cattany
FROM: Dan Mathews I/ Division oirMOr
\ Natural Resource Trustee
RE: Aspen Transplant Study; lst Year Report '
Seneca II-W Mine
Permit No. C-82-057
As you know, we recently received the January 2006 report, Transplanting Aspen on
Reclaimed Coal-Mine Lands Using Drip Irrigation, prepared by Forest Service Rocky
Mountain Research Station (RMRS) researchers Robert Musselman, Wayne Shepperd,
and Lance Asherin. The pilot study was conducted by the authors under a research
agreement between RMRS and Seneca Coal Company (SCC). I have reviewed the study
report, and also attended a presentation given by Dr. Shepperd at the Seneca mine office
on February 2, 2006. Here below I have included a brief summary of the study plan, and
my comments based on the report and presentation.
Aspen Study Plan
The detailed first year study plan is included in Appendix 22-3 of the Seneca II-W permit
application package, Aspen Study Plan. The study design included four blocks of aspen
transplants (50 per block), within each of two soil treatments, "modified" (i.e.
rotocleared) and "normal" (i.e. non-rotocleared). The soil for each treatment was
obtained from an aspen grove in advance of mine operations, and was replaced at an
approximately uniform 4 foot thickness. The blocks within each soil treatment included a
high, medium, and low irrigation rate treatment, and a control, which received no
supplemental irrigation. Although not formally addressed in the study plan, the elk
fenced study plot included substantial area within each soil treatment that was not
irrigated or planted with aspen saplings. It was anticipated that some aspen sprouting
from root segments within the replaced topsoil might occur, and that the extent of
suckering might differ between the two soil treatments. In addition to the detailed first
year "pilot study" plan and schedule for transplanting aspen using drip irrigation, the
Appendix addresses, in Section 8.0, additional techniques to be field tested including the
"mother plant technique" and the "aspen sapling farm".
Office of Office of Colorado
Mined Land Reclamation Active and Inactive Mines Geological Survey