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