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• <br />Aspen Photosynthesis and Conductance - Yoast <br />20 <br />0.20 <br />—� <br />�E <br />� Pxororynu,dvN <br />rAnaYCb11R <br />15 <br />0.15 n N <br />v <br />E <br />5 <br />10 <br />0.10 <br />N <br />3 <br />C <br />N <br />A <br />5 <br />0.05 <br />V O <br />C <br />° <br />U <br />° <br />r <br />0 <br />0.00 <br />a <br />impauon <br />NO imPVOn <br />Impmbn <br />No wgxT <br />FaMC <br />FaIm <br />NO FdOfIC <br />NOFabm <br />Figure 20. Photosynthesis and conductance of apsen at the Yoast site in response <br />to landscape fabric and irrigation. <br />Discussion and Conclusions <br />This study specifically addressed the issue of finding ways to successfully plant <br />• aspen and serviceberry on reclaimed surface mines in high altitude semi -arid <br />environments in the western United States, but the experiment is applicable for <br />reclamation nationwide. Aspen and serviceberry have occupied many surface coal mine <br />sites in the Western US prior to mining operations. Because aspen and serviceberry <br />reproduce by root suckering and parent roots are disturbed in the mining process, sites <br />must be reclaimed using potted plants or transplants. Potted seedlings or transplanted <br />root sprouts do not have an extensive root system to access water and nutrients needed <br />for establishment and rapid growth. We conducted this experiment to test the use of <br />commercially available tree and shrub planting techniques to establish planted aspen <br />and serviceberry on reclaimed coal mine soils, and to compare growth and survival of <br />the plants under the different irrigation and landscape fabric treatments. We used <br />commercial weed barrier landscape fabric commonly placed on the ground by tractor - <br />drawn machine. <br />It was apparent that after the first growing season of this experiment that <br />• survival and growth of aspen was highly dependent on use of the landscape fabric, with <br />25 <br />