Surface mining for coal represents one of the dominant forms of anthropogenic disturbance to forests of the eastern United States. Reclamation methods adopted under federal law in the 1970s have led to a state of arrested succession, failing to achieve pre‐disturbance conditions. New methods of reclamation have been proposed with the goal of returning mined land to its former forested state through the use of compaction reducing techniques that significantly increase fine‐scale heterogeneity. The Forestry Reclamation Approach creates topographic heterogeneity by loosely dumping overburden material into large piles to serve as a tree‐planting medium. We examined the effect of fine‐scale topographic relief, soil physical properties, and reclamation method on early plant community development on a mine site in eastern Ohio. We sampled plots at four microtopographic positions and three distances from the remaining forest edge in both experimentally and traditionally reclaimed areas of a surface mine. Multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) on distance matrices indicated significant differences in plant community composition among microtopographic positions and reclamation methods. Microtopographic positions also exhibited significant differences in measured soil properties significantly affecting plant community composition. Plots in the traditionally reclaimed areas had no woody plant colonization, indicating arrested succession common to sites reclaimed using traditional methods. Our results suggest that the creation of topographic heterogeneity at the time of reclamation markedly accelerates ecological succession and promotes enhanced plant community diversity. Expanded application of the methods used here could allow for a faster return to the former forested state of mined lands than traditional reclamation methods.

The use of SMCRA approved practices for mined land reclamation has resulted in arrested succession throughout many areas of central Appalachia. The combination of heavily compacted soils and the addition of aggressive, often nonnative, grasses and forbs creates an environment characterized by high soil bulk density and aggressive ground-layer competition. This results in a situation where trees are unable to recruit and thus many lands are unable to return to original forest cover through natural processes of succession. Using the basic principles of the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA), we report on two experiments conducted in Ohio: one designed to remediate a 30-yr arrested succession and the other designed to encourage immediate reforestation at the time of reclamation. We conducted these experiments using American chestnut (Castanea dentata) to explore the potential for using these sites as part of the national restoration plan under development by the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF). The first experiment utilized deep soil ripping and a combination of plowing and disking treatments. After three years, the results are clear. Simply planting chestnut into untreated existing habitat is ineffective. Some type of surface treatment to reduce soil bulk density and competition is necessary for seedling establishment. The more significant the disturbance, the better the survival and growth of chestnut. The second experiment utilized loose end-dumping at the time of reclamation. Various methods of chestnut deployment and planting were evaluated including direct seeding and bare-root seedlings. Plantings were done with and without protection from predators in different microsites. While survival of seedlings was greater than seeds, the most noticeable enhancement to survival was the addition of a tree shelter, which nearly doubled the survival rate. In summary, American chestnut appears to thrive on mine land reclamation sites-this may prove to be a useful focal point for restoration of the species while aiding in the reforestation of old and new reclamation sites.

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