Wildlife and Fishery Considerations in Surface Mine Reclamation

Grassland songbird communities have been on a steady decline for many years throughout their range. Recently, however, it has been discovered that several species of grassland birds are nesting on reclaimed surface mines. The use of surface mines by these species have been shown to be correlated with the size of the grassland, along with habitat characteristics and the dispersal of these habitats upon the landscape. The current paper provides a mechanism to use the structure and composition of avian communities to assess the initial and long term sustainability grassland habitats on reclaimed mined lands. The use of feeding guilds and biotic indices along with species composition and bird density provide a means to rapidly assess the sustainability of these systems. The authors provide several suggestions to enhance the number and diversity of bird species along with other wildlife using grasslands on reclaimed surface mines.

Use of Grassland Avian Communities to Monitor Reclamation Success on Surface Mine Lands

Rummel¹,

Brenner²

2003

Hardwood Stocking After Five Years on Reclaimed Mined Land in Central Appalachia: A Preliminary Analysis

Auch¹,

Burger²,

Mitchem³

2005

Restoring mined land to native forest after surface mining could provide short-and long-term financial, environmental, and societal benefits. This study was conducted to test establishment procedures for short-and long-rotation tree species that consider (i) tree and ground cover compatibility, (ii) seeding versus hand-planting of certain short-rotation hardwood species (sycamore, green ash and tulip poplar), (iii) performance toward bond release, (iv) stocking among species and species types, and (v) the influence of spoil type, grading intensity, and site factors on tree performance. Reforestation treatments including natural invasion, direct seeding, and planting of nurse trees, softwoods and hardwoods were established on ten 2-ha recently-mined sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. A broad gradient in spoil type, degree of compaction, and ground cover amount occurred across the 10 sites. Natural invasion was negligible (7 trees/ha), and direct seeding of nurse and softwood species produced only 353 trees/ha. Planted softwoods (sycamore, green ash, red maple) had the highest stocking level (907-930 trees/ha), while planted hardwoods (oaks, sugar maple, white ash) survived with 783-865 trees/ha. Stocking levels of the commerciallyvaluable long-rotation hardwoods were significantly less then short-rotation softwoods. Stocking was influenced by groundcover competition, mine spoil density, and slope. None of the reforestation treatments were sufficiently stocked to meet state bond release criteria. Better mine soil conditions and less competitive ground covers are needed to ensure adequate stocking of native hardwoods.

Impact of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act on Species of Special Concern in Pennsylvania

Brenner¹

2007

Abstract:Since the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) thousands of grassland habitats have been created in eastern North America. In western Pennsylvania over 50 species of birds including, eleven species that are either listed as threatened, endangered or as special concern, have been observed using grasslands and wetlands on reclaimed mines. In addition to these bird species, the endangered Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) has been observed foraging on grasslands on two mine sites in western Pennsylvania. Although the development of wildlife habitats can be incorporated into the reclamation of mine lands, the specific habitats for threatened and endangered species are generally not a defined objective of the reclamation of mine lands. Because threatened and endangered species nest and forage on grasslands and wetlands on mine lands, they should be given consideration during the reclamation of mine lands.