Laserfiche WebLink
<br />METHODS <br />SAMPLING PURPOSE: <br />Several questions are of importance to coal mine operators with regard to the <br />reclaimed vegetation. In the fast couple of years after reclamation, the operator is <br />most concerned with determining whether a potential revegetation disaster has been <br />avoided. Do the reclaimed areas contain enough desirable species to allow them to <br />eventually meet the various vegetative success criteria? Additionally, are the species' <br />relative covers on track so that the reclaimed parcel may potentially meet the species <br />diversity/composition success requirements? For the Apex No. 2 Mine, success <br />• requirements involve technical standards, not a comparison to reference areas. These <br />standards are outlined at the top of Charts 2 and 3 in the appendrz. While these <br />immediate questions can be more precisely answered using 50 meter transecis and an <br />optical point frame, the longer term questions below are more adequately addressed <br />using small permanent plots. <br />Longer term, operators are concerned with the following questions. First, are <br />the desirable reclamation species increasing in absolute cover to approach or exceed the <br />success requirements? Second, are the reclaimed area species becoming more even in <br />their distribution in the communities, or is one species steadily becoming more <br />dominant'? Third, at a smaller scale, are new desirable individuals becoming <br />established or are existing individuals simply getting larger and not reproducing <br />themselves? Related to this third question are several variations. Desirable individuals <br />• could be declining in number, staying the same, or increasing. Additionally, desirable <br />reJ ~ /ro/ ~Sf <br />2 <br />~~`~-J S <br />L~~. ~ i i.,.,., <br />