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establishing aspen and serviceberry on reclaimed surface-mined lands is therefore problematic, since the <br />for wildlife, supplying both foliage for forage and fruit for ungulate and small mammal consumption. <br />Serviceberry planted on reclaimed mine overburden had lower survival when plants were fertilized <br />(Williams et al. 2004). Serviceberry planted on reclaimed mine lands in northeastern Washington <br />survived well but growth was slow and did not respond to nutrient supply (Voeller et al. 1998). <br />Serviceberry, like aspen, depends on sprouting for reproduction, is difficult to start from seedlings, <br />and has been shown to be difficult to reproduce on reclaimed mine lands (Agnew 1992). Movement of <br />topsoil containing roots for sprouting to the reclaimed site (livehauling), or transplanting of native plants, <br />provided for the best establishment on reclaimed mine lands (Agnew 1992). The influence of competing <br />vegetation on establishment of serviceberry on reclaimed lands has not been studied. <br />It seems reasonable to conclude that removal of competing vegetation and supplemental irrigation of <br />trees and shrubs planted on reclaimed surface-mined lands could increase initial survival and allow the <br />plants to grow sufficient root systems to ultimately survive without additional water on reclaimed mine <br />lands. Planting equipment is available that can be pulled behind a tractor. The equipment plants woody <br />perennials and lays down a weed-barrier landscape fabric. Although commonly used for windbreak <br />planting in the Midwest and for planting crops such as strawberries in California, as far as we know this <br />equipment has not been used for re-vegetation of reclaimed surface coal mine lands. We studied this <br />method of planting to gain knowledge about the feasibility of adopting the method to successfully re- <br />vegetate aspen and serviceberry on reclaimed soils. Our objective was to identify factors that potentially <br />limit re-establishment and are crucial to reproduce trees and shrubs on surface-mined lands in the semi- <br />arid west. The study is applicable nation-wide where competition from herbaceous vegetation limits <br />reproduction of woody perennials on re-vegetated surface coal mine lands. <br />In contrast, transplanting sapling-sized aspen in irrigated urban landscapes has not been a problem, <br />because the abundant supplies of water in lawns and landscape beds enable the transplants to thrive. <br />Although aspen is somewhat tolerant of drought conditions (Lieffers et al. 2001), irrigation could benefit <br />growth and survival of planted aspen stock, because moisture stress negatively affects aspen response to <br />nutrient uptake (van den. Driessche et al. 2003). Water deficit stress also reduces stomata] conductance, <br />root hydraulic conductivity, and shoot leaf water potential in aspen (Siemens and Zwiazek 2003). <br />parent Service root berry is systems are common and destroyed when important shrub topsoil rub is in removed. ecosystems, and is an important food source <br />Irrigation has been shown to increase growth of hybrid poplar, a closely related species (Hansen 1988; <br />Strong and Hansen 1991). Herbaceous competition has been shown to reduce survival of aspen on <br />reclaimed mined lands (Hughes et al. 1992).