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planting and fabric laying machine, and students were available to assist with the planting. Trees were <br />planted first then fabric was laid simulating techniques used where trees and shrubs are first planted from <br />the back of a tractor, followed by tractor-mounted rolling and laying of the fabric, then slitting and <br />pinning the fabric around and over the planted trees. The experiment included a total of six plots, three at <br />the IIW Mine and three at the Yoast Mine. All of the plots were located within two fenced areas at each <br />mine to exclude elk, deer, and cattle browsing. At each mine, one of the fenced areas included one <br />experimental plot and the other fenced area included two experimental plots. The single fenced plot at the <br />IIW mine was abandoned after grasshoppers defoliated all the plants by the end of June 2008. We will re- <br />examine this plot for survival in 2009, but it is not included in the first year growth analysis. Aspen and <br />serviceberry were planted with or without the landscape fabric. One-half of the planted aspen and <br />serviceberry received water every other week by watering from a bulk storage tank. The other half <br />received no supplemental irrigation water. Water supply was from a nearby potable water source to avoid <br />salinity problems. <br />Nursery stock potted aspen (3.78-liter [1-gallon] size pot, 45-60 cm tall trees) and serviceberry (164 cubic <br />cm [10 cubic inch] Ray Leach supercells, 20.1 cm depth x 3.2 cm collar, 30-45 cm tall plants) from a <br />commercial nursery (Rocky Mountain Native Plants Company, Rifle, CO) using a Colorado Rocky <br />Mountain seed source were planted during the late fall of 2007 after senescence when the plants had <br />winter hardened. The first year of funding provided for data collection and analysis the first growing <br />season following planting. The experiment was designed in consultation with a research Biometrician. <br />The experiment is fully replicated at the reclaimed experimental sites, and the study utilizes an analysis of <br />variance (ANOVA) with sources of variation treatments consisting of landscape fabric (fabric or no <br />fabric) and irrigation (supplement rainfall with or without irrigation). The data were analyzed using SAS <br />GLEV MIX (mixed model) analysis. <br />The experiment was designed to be analyzed separately for each species. Each experimental plot or <br />block includes 16 rows of plants, 8 rows of serviceberry and 8 rows of aspen (Tables I and 2). Each <br />separate landscape fabric treatment contained 12 individual trees or shrubs; half were irrigated and half <br />not irrigated. Plants for the experiment were selected to be of uniform size before planting. The first year <br />growth and physiological measurements were conducted during the summer of 2008. Although the study <br />was designed for at least three years of measurement following planting to insure more than short-term <br />survival and growth information, and since response of perennials to treatment is often not seen until the <br />third year of treatment, this initial report examined response only through the first (2008) growing season. <br />Table 1. The aspen and serviceberry field layout for the landscape fabric and irrigation study, in the <br />two fenced areas at the Yoast Mine. AF = aspen with landscape fabric, SF = serviceberry with landscape <br />fabric, A = aspen without landscape fabric, S = serviceberry without landscape fabric. Each row has 12