2008-03-12_REPORT - C1982057 ‎(2)‎

• Permit No: C1982057
• IBM Index Class Name: REPORT
• Doc Date: 3/12/2008
• Doc Name: 2007 Annual Reclamation Report
• From: Seneca Coal Company
• To: DRMS
• Permit Index Doc Type: Annual Reclamation Report
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• Having access to a well developed parental root system gives aspen sprouts a
great advantage over other plants. The parent roots supply carbohydrates and
access water deep in the soil profile allowing sprouts to grow rapidly, out-compete
other vegetation, and withstand frequent droughty conditions in the West.
Re-establishing aspen on surface-mined lands is therefore problematic, since
the parent root systems are destroyed when topsoil is removed. Planting aspen in
anon-irrigated location in a Colorado study was not successful (Shepperd and
Mata 2005). Transplanting greenhouse or nursery-grown aspen seedlings into the
field has similar problems to those of natural seedlings, indicating that the small
root mass of transplanted seedlings is insufficient to absorb enough moisture to
maintain the seedlings during periods of summer drought in the wild.
In contrast, transplanting sapling-sized aspen in irrigated urban landscapes has
not been a problem, because the abundant supplies of water in lawns and
landscape beds enable the transplants to thrive. Although aspen is somewhat
tolerant of drought conditions (Lieffers et al. 2001), irrigation could benefit growth
and survival of planted aspen stock, because moisture stress negatively affects
aspen response to nutrient uptake (van den Driessche et al. 2003). Water deficit
stress also reduces stomata) conductance, root hydraulic conductivity, and shoot
leaf water potential in aspen (Siemens and Zwiazek 2003). Irrigation has been
shown to increase growth of hybrid poplar, a closely related species (Hansen
1988; Strong and Hansen 1991).
Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that supplemental irrigation of
• aspen planted on reclaimed surface-mined lands could increase initial survival and
allow trees to grow sufficient root systems to ultimately survive without additional
water and establish new self-regenerating clones on mined lands. Testing this
hypothesis, gaining additional knowledge about different planting methods, and
documenting factors that potentially limit the re-establishment of aspen is crucial to
re-establishing aspen on surface-mined lands in the grid west. This research was a
collaborative three-year effort, with 2005 and 2006 funding from Seneca Coal
Company; and 2007 funding from Seneca Coal Company and OSM-NTTT. The US
Forest Service contributed cost share funding for the project 2005-2007.
Preliminary Studies:
A pilot study was funded by Seneca Coal Company in 2004 to examine the
feasibility of using supplemental drip irrigation to establish aspen on reclaimed coal
mine overburden soils. Overburden and top soils are normally stored for a number
of months before landscape resurfacing and planting. The study, established on re-
claimed lands owned by Seneca near Hayden, Colorado (Figure 1), examined for
the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons the growth, survival, and water status of
aspen trees planted on reclaimed soils during the fall of 2004.
The objective of this study initially was to examine the survival, growth, and
water status of irrigated aspen transplants on two types of topsoil, placed over coal
mine overburden material that had been replaced after surface mining. However,
circumstances allowed us to expand the original study design to collect growth and
• survival data from: 1) aspen sprouts transplanted from a nearby mine, placed in
two topsoil types within a fenced area and drip irrigated at three watering levels