Amendments for Reforestation On a Reclaimed West Virginia Surface Mine.

Abstract:  Surface mining in West Virginia has been taking place for nearly a century.  Most of the land disturbed was once covered in eastern deciduous forest. Returning the reclaimed land to a productive forest requires the selection and placement of proper soil material and appropriate selection and plating of tree species. In addition to these factors a variety of amendments, such as bark mulch, can be added to mine soil during reclamation. The objective of this research is to evaluate tree survival in weathered brown sandstone and in unweathered gray sandstone treated with and without bark mulch and with and without hydroseeding. At the ICG-Eastern mine in Webster County, WV, a 2.7-hectare demonstration plot containing eight soil treatment combinations was planted with a variety of hardwood tree species on 2.5 by 2.5 m spacing. After two years, plots of brown sandstone alone and brown sandstone with hydroseeding had an average pH of 4.7, while gray sandstone and gray sandstone with hydroseeding was pH 7.6. Brown sandstone and gray sandstone with bark mulch and with bark mulch and hydroseeding had an average pH of 7.2 After two growing seasons average survival across brown sandstone alone was 83%, with bark mulch 89%, with hydroseeding 68%, and with bark mulch and hydroseeding 77%, while gray sandstone alone was 88%, with bark mulch 85%, with hydroseeding 44%, and with bark mulch and hydroseeding 88%. Tree survival across treatment combinations for sugar maple was 92%, white pine 88%, northern red oak 86%, and black cherry 85%. Growth in the form of volume index (volume index (cm³) = height x diameter²) for these four species was sugar maple 97 cm³, white pine 232 cm³, northern red oak 45 cm³, and black cherry 29 cm³. 

 

Additional Key words:  gray sandstone, tree survival, tree volume, bark mulch, hydroseeding