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14 0 Predawn Leaf Water Potential <br />-12.0 <br />eo <br />10.0 <br />8.0 <br />a <br />3 6.0 <br />?v <br />a 4.0 <br />2.0 <br />0.0 <br />Irrigation No Irrigation Irrigation No Irrigation <br />Fabric Fabric No Fabric No Fabric <br />Figure 0. Predawn leaf water potential of aspen in response to landscape fabric and irrigation. <br />Discussion and Conclusions <br />This study specifically addressed the issue of finding ways to successfully plant aspen and <br />scrviceberry on reclaimed surface mines in high altitude semi-arid environments in the western United <br />States, but the experiment is applicable for reclamation nationwide. Aspen and serviceberry have <br />occupied many surface coal mine sites in the Western LIS prior to mining operations. [because aspen and <br />serviceberry reproduce by root suckering and parent roots are disturbed in the mining process, sites must <br />be reclaimed using potted plants or transplants. Potted seedlings or transplanted root sprouts do not have <br />an extensive root system to access water and nutrients needed for establishment and rapid growth. We <br />conducted an experiment to test the use of commercially available tree and shrub planting techniques to <br />establish planted aspen and serviceberry on reclaimed coal mine soils, and to compare growth and <br />survival of the plants under the different irrigation and landscape fabric treatments. We used commercial <br />weed barrier landscape fabric commonly placed on the ground by tractor-drawn machine. <br />It is apparent that after the first growing season of this experiment that survival and growth ofaspen <br />was highly dependent on use of the landscape tabric, with the presence of the fabric significantly <br />increasing growth and survival. The increases seemed to be related to increased soil moisture and <br />resultant decreased leaf water stress and increased photosynthesis. The increased soil moisture may have <br />been related to less water evaporation from the soil having a landscape fabric cover or from less <br />11'an>p1ra11on fi-om these plots because of less vegetative cover.