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Land reclamation associated with natural gas development has become increasingly important to mitigate land surface disturbance in western North America. Since well pads occur on sites with multiple land use and ownership, the progress and outcomes of these efforts are of interest to multiple stakeholders including industry, practitioners and consultants, regulatory agents, private landowners, and the scientific community. Reclamation success criteria often vary within, and among, government agencies and across land ownership type. Typically, reclamation success of a well pad is judged by comparing vegetation cover from a single transect on the pad to a single transect in an adjacent reference site and data are collected by a large number of technicians with various field monitoring skills. We utilized “SamplePoint” image analysis software and a spatially balanced sampling design, called balanced acceptance sampling, to demonstrate how spatially explicit quantitative data can be used to determine if sites are meeting various reclamation success criteria and used chi‐square tests to show how sites in vegetation percent cover differ from a statistical standpoint. This method collects field data faster than traditional methods. We demonstrate how quantitative and spatially explicit data can be utilized by multiple stakeholders, how it can improve upon current reference site selection, how it can satisfy reclamation monitoring requirements for multiple regulatory agencies, how it may help improve future seed mix selection, and discuss how it may reduce costs for operations responsible for reclamation and how it may reduce observer bias.

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Natural resource extraction has been linked to habitat loss and declines in biodiversity. Insects, the most diverse and abundant animals on Earth, provide a wide array of critical ecosystem services, but are typically understudied in terrestrial restoration projects. Here, we examine how insects and other arthropods respond to reclamation efforts in the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field in semi-arid Wyoming, USA. Vegetation on two-year-old well pads seeded with native grass or one-year-old well pads seeded with a native annual forb, Rocky Mountain bee plant (Cleomeserrulata), was measured and compared to reference areas adjacent to the well pads with a free software program called SamplePoint. Reference areas in the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field consist primarily of decadent sagebrush stands with low floral diversity. Insect and arthropod communities were also collected and assessed for family richness and abundance on these well pads and reference areas over two years. Based on the mass flowering hypothesis, we expected higher insect abundance and diversity on well pads seeded with the Rocky Mountain bee plant compared to adjacent reference areas. Based on the plant vigor hypothesis, we expected higher insect abundance and diversity on well pads seeded with native grass than reference communities. In year one, 893 insects from 30 insect families with an additional 12 arthropods from 4 families were captured. In year two, 685 insects from 17 families were collected. Reclaimed well pads had significantly higher abundance in both years and vegetation types. In year one, we did not detect a significant difference in richness on native-grass-treated well pads vs. the reference site. We found a significant difference in richness on bee-plant-treated well pads vs. the reference in both years, as well as native-grass-treated well pads vs. the reference in year two. Implications of these findings are discussed in the manuscript.

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