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• Objectives: The objective of this study initially was to examine the survival, growth, <br />and water status of irrigated aspen transplants on fresh and stored topsoil placed <br />over coal mine overburden material that had been replaced after surface mining. <br />However, circumstances allowed us to expand the original study design to collect <br />growth and survival data from: 1) aspen sprouts transplanted from a nearby mine, <br />placed in fresh and stored topsoil within a fenced area and drip irrigated at three <br />watering levels and an unwatered control; 2) unwatered sprouts arising from aspen <br />root segments that had been transported into the fenced area in the two topsoils; 3) <br />commercially grown potted aspen seedlings that were planted in a nearby fenced <br />area, and; 4) natural aspen sprouts growing in an un-mined area in the vicinity that <br />was not fenced and subject to grazing effects of ungulates on growth and survival of <br />aspen sprouts. <br />Methods: The initial project was a case study of the effectiveness of irrigation <br />• treatment on the survival, growth, and water status of aspen cuttings planted on a <br />site of reclaimed land of the Seneca Coal Company 2W mine south of Hayden, <br />Colorado. The irrigated portion of the study was designed to measure the effect of <br />supplemental irrigation on aspen saplings that had been transplanted from a <br />naturally regenerating site on the Yoast mine where the original forest had been <br />cleared in preparation for mining. Aspen saplings between 1-2 m in height were <br />selected from this site at the end of the growing season in 2004 and pruned to leave <br />only the uppermost branches intact. In October, 2004, these saplings were dug <br />using a small backhoe and immediately transplanted into angered holes that had <br />been prepared at the fenced planting site at the 2W mine. All cuttings were <br />presumed to be from the same genetic clone since they were collected from the <br />same area. Trees were planted in eight blocks consisting of five rows of ten trees, <br />(50 trees total) spaced on a 1.5 m z 1.5 m grid (Figure 1). Four blocks were placed <br />in topsoil that had been directly transferred from an area being prepared for surface <br />mining and four blocks were placed in soil that had been stored for several years <br />• before being placed on-site. Topsoil depth was approximately 1 m in both cases. <br />2 <br />