Status of Reforested Mine Sites in Southwestern Indiana Reclaimed From 1988 to 1995

Abstract

No attempt has ever been made to track the long term progress of reforested mine sites in Indiana following reclamation bond release. The purpose of this survey was to determine how well reforested mine sites in Indiana were performing in terms of values and services normally ascribed to native forest and what their future potential might be. Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) was the most abundant species on 68% of the surveyed sites and accounted for 45% of all tallied trees and shrubs across all sites. Many black locust stands are currently experiencing decline and dieback caused, in part, by the locust borer. Forty percent of stands approached unmined planted tree height growth rates, while only 27% approached stem diameter growth rates of stands on unmined sites. Most reclaimed mine sites had measured site quality indices below the poorer quality sites in the region's native forests. Overall stocking in the establishment phase of stand development appeared adequate for future commercial timber production on many of the study sites. However, the dominance of black locust stocking in many stands limits their future viability for timber production. Tall fescue and serica lespedeza along with naturally occurring goldenrod were the most common ground covers in surveyed tree plantings. With few exceptions the reclaimed mine sites in this study show very low levels of productivity for forest products and carbon sequestration relative to native forests of this region, even though stocking levels appeared to be adequate. This suggests that the current bond performance measurement of 450 trees/acre bears little relevance to long term forest productivity. The results of this survey should serve as a baseline to determine the extent to which recent and future changes in reclamation methods improve reforestation success while meeting the other mandates of Indiana's mining regulatory program.

American Chestnut as a Future Resource to Enhance Mine Reclamation Productivity

“…At present, species that are tolerant to degraded conditions yet prove to be relatively undesirable to many landowners, such as black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), are often used in reclamation projects (Rathfon et al, 2004) (Table 1). Thus, the resulting species composition on reclaimed sites typically reduces the prospective future value of the land.…”

“…In Indiana, for example, seedling orders for mined land reclamation from state-operated seedling nurseries total approximately one million seedlings annually (Conrad, 1999), which represents nearly 20% of total seedlings planted each year in the state. Long-term survivorship of seedlings planted onto mine reclamation sites is generally low, and often consists of species which are not deemed highly desirable by landowners (Rathfon et al, 2004).…”

Effects of Soil Amendment Treatments on American Chestnut Performance and Physiology on an East Tennessee Surface Mine

“…Consequently, many projects utilize degradation-tolerant but potentially low value species such as black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) (Rathfon, et al, 2004). Therefore, a species is needed that is potentially valuable with adaptation to xeric sites which are often nutrient limited and under a high light intensity.…”