Revegetation - OSM Technology Transfer - Office of Surface Mining

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INTRODUCTION SMCRA and North Dakota law and rules (North Dakota State Program, 1998) require that reclaimed native rangeland be established with a diverse, effective and permanent vegetative cover that is at least equal to that of lands in the surrounding area under equivalent management. Production, cover, diversity, seasonality and permanence are parameters used to demonstrate reclamation success on native grasslands in North Dakota. North Dakota revegetation guidelines allow the use of range site reference areas or technical standards derived from NRCS data to prove reclamation success. The technical standards for diversity and seasonality are developed based on composition by weight from NRCS range site descriptions for plant communities in excellent ecological condition; and individual species comprising 5 percent or more composition by weight are counted to establish the diversity standard. Diversity and seasonality standards from reference areas are developed by using either weight or cover data. Individual species comprising 5 percent or more composition by weight or 3 percent or more by relative cover are counted to establish a diversity standard from reference areas. The seasonality standard is the relative composition of all warm season species. Production and cover data from at least one reference area are required to bond release reclaimed rangeland in North Dakota. Actual production from the major pre-mine soil types is used to develop the bond release production standard. NRCS production values can be used for soils not represented by reference areas but the NRCS values must be adjusted for annual climatic variation. The ground cover standard is developed from reference areas or fixed standards. For the sites not represented by a reference area, the cover standard is 73 percent basal or 83 percent first-hit based on studies by Ries and Hofmann (1984). Reference areas must represent the geology, soil, slope and vegetation of the permit area. However, it is not practical to establish reference areas for every pre-mine range site, and thus NRCS derived technical standards may be used in conjunction with reference area data to develop standards for tracts requested for bond release. Technical standards are weighted by pre-mine range site acreage to develop the bond release standards for production, cover, diversity and seasonality. The reclaimed tract must equal or exceed the standards for final bond release. The silty range site is typically the predominant pre-mine range site and, in most instances, is the range site that is expected to be the most similar to postmining conditions. Therefore, silty reference areas are used extensively to verify reclamation success. There were two objectives to this report. 1) To compare NRCS-based technical standards to those derived from the reference areas, and 2) to compare diversity and seasonality standards derived from production data to those derived from cover data.
METHODS Six mining companies submitted silty reference area monitoring data so that the standards for production, diversity and seasonality developed from each of these data sets could be compared with the technical standards based on NRCS data. Thirty-three data sets gathered from 1989 through 1998 were evaluated. Five of the silty reference areas are located in the Missouri Slope Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) while one reference area, Falkirk, is located in the Coteau MLRA. The sampled silty reference areas have been officially approved as reference areas at each of the mines and were sampled in accordance with methods approved by the North Dakota program. Production data was typically sampled using ¼ meter square quadrant, and cover was measured using a 10-point frame. The NRCS standards for diversity and seasonality are based on species composition by weight (SCS, 1975 and 1987). The reference area standards for these parameters are based on species composition by weight as well as by cover. Table 1 shows the years reference area data were collected from the silty reference areas established at the six different mines. Table 1: Years Reference Areas Sampled Reference Area Years Sampling Data Collected Location 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Center x x x x x x Coteau x x x x Falkirk x x x Glenharold x x x x x x x x x x Indian Head x x x x x x x x Beulah x x Production RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The NRCS production standards for the mines’ silty reference areas range from 1800 to 2100 pounds per acre with an average value of 1888 pounds per acre. This value was calculated by weighting the NRCS production standard with the number of samples obtained at each reference area location. NRCS production values are based on silty range sites in excellent ecological condition. The reference areas tended to be in good range condition and their actual production during the 10-year period ranged from 780 to 2593 pounds per acre, averaging 1,657 pounds per acre. The 90% confidence interval estimate for the reference mean was 1,526 to 1,788 pounds per acre. The reference areas’ mean yields were comparable to the NRCS standards only at the Falkirk and Beulah Mines. The comparison, however, was based on only two to three years of observations when more favorable weather conditions may have prevailed. A
Page 1 and 2: 2000 Billings Land Reclamation Symp
Page 3 and 4: ock layers, the topography of the r
Page 5 and 6: Table 1. Comparision of Reference A
Page 7 and 8: generally greater on the revegetate
Page 9 and 10: growing season. Low and high precip
Page 11 and 12: Table 2. Comparison of Vegetation P
Page 13 and 14: REFERENCES CEC. 1998. Coors Energy
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Page 19 and 20: NRCS derived standard. The NRCS der
Page 21 and 22: SUMMARY Production, diversity and s
Page 23 and 24: SUCCESSFUL RECLAMATION TECHNIQUES A
Page 25 and 26: May, 24, 1975 (LQD Rules and Regula
Page 27 and 28: Bond release requirements for the R
Page 29 and 30: The bond release area blended well
Page 31 and 32: y the planting of the native seed m
Page 33 and 34: References Final bond release crite
Page 35 and 36: It is familiar that many succession
Page 37: soils of the NA and PCT areas (Tabl
Page 40: In the SMT and NA areas, the correl
Page 43 and 44: All the grasses performed better on
Page 45 and 46: We believe that our findings relati
Page 47 and 48: for the life spans of the dominant
Page 49 and 50: INTRODUCTION Concern about the envi
Page 51 and 52: Following agreement on the systems
Page 53 and 54: land with respect to whether it is
Page 55 and 56: Environmental Concerns in Rights-of
Page 57 and 58: INTRODUCTION North Dakota enacted i
Page 59 and 60: eality by lessening the impact of a
Page 61 and 62: compared to show the relationship o
Page 63 and 64: the last quarter of the 19 th Centu
Page 65 and 66: DISCUSSION The PDSI has several adv
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Mock, C. J. 1991. Drought and preci
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2000 Billings Land Reclamation Symp
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size delineation is approximately t
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Table 1. Comparison of Williams & B
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least 2 of the 3 years that product
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This reclaimed mineland study was d
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surface traffic which followed the
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Another factor that may have contri
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since the plots were only fertilize
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successive pit is then placed on to
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gave the trees moisture retaining s
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INTRODUCTION While numerous studies
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In desert ecosystems of North Ameri
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Physically, the reconstructed soil
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small percentage of inhibitory soil
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INTRODUCTION In order to address co
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areas by soil depth were also gathe
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T52N Powder River Coal- Rawhide T50
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Table 2. Study Area Compared to Bre
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STUDY AREA The study area is Seneca
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Plant competition did not significa
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Tilman, D. and D. Wedin. 1991. “D
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INTRODUCTION The Montana Strip and
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livestock. The environmental charac
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In Montana, as well as much of the
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REFERENCES Econ, Inc. 1983. Vegetat
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INTRODUCTION In 1996, owners of a s
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Table 1. Physical and chemical char
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surface soils collected from both b
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The Book Cliffs lie within the Pric
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Rock Outcrop Rubbleland Topsoil Sto
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pinyon/juniper, Douglas fir/Rocky M
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Construction and Reclamation Sequen
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LEGEND: Cap Layer Material Excess I
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Step 7: LEGEND: Cap Layer Material
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A North Slope Rock, rubble Sideslop
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Approximate Original Contour Restor
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Regulatory Concerns with the Experi
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Nyenhuis, J. H. 1997. Soil resource
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INTRODUCTION Management of soils on
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Soil samples were collected from th
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situ soil. Data from the Irigaray R
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The data on soil microbial biomass
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Coal Basin is characterized by uniq
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A problem developed the summer foll
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delivered to the DMG over one thous
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A variety of containerized shrubs (
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TABLE 3. OUTSLOPE SEED MIXTURE SPEC
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INTRODUCTION Hard rock mines in the
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Coversoil an
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Table 2. Effect of coversoil thickn
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Brady, Nyle C. and R.R. Weil. 1996.
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2000 Billings Land Symposium SUCCES
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Traditional approaches to revegetat
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Table 1. Survival and mean vigor ra
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Survival (%) 100 80 60 40 20 0 �
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Seven planting sites were evaluated
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Table 5. Summary survival and parti
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SPECIES SELECTION Once the NPS made
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There is some question as to how mu
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Restoration within Yellowstone and
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Altitude Revegetation Workshop, No.
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INTRODUCTION The legacy of Montana
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METHODS AND MATERIALS The project d
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elt seeder based on a seeding rate
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Table 2. Anaconda Initial Evaluatio
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Planting begins with seedbed prepar
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REFERENCES Bradshaw, A.D.; McNeilly
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Revegetation - OSM Technology Transfer - Office of Surface Mining

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