Integrating the Forestry Reclamation Approach for Reclamation of American Chestnut and Oaks in the

Mid-Continent Region

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Multi-State Partnership

•Purdue University•Southern Illinois University•Peabody Energy•Indiana and Illinois Departments of Natural Resources•Indiana DNR, Divisions of Reclamation and Forestry•Illinois DNR, Divisions of Land Reclamation and Forestry

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Location of the Study Site

•Peabody Energy’s Somerville Mine near Oakland City, IN

•Mining operations recently completed

•Grading and soil deposition in Fall 2009

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Focus and Overall Objectives

Within the framework of SMCRA regulations:

•Integrate soil replacement techniques associated with the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) to establish productive high-value hardwood forests on reclaimed coal mined lands in the Midwestern Coal Region.

•Devise a practical, cost-effective, and efficient management approach that promotes seedling growth to reach free-to-grow status sooner and avert animal browsing, thereby facilitating mine reclamation success.

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Study Design•Examine effects of soil replacement strategies on survival, growth, rooting strategies, and nutrient uptake of blight resistant hybrid American chestnut and oak seedlings

•Compare currently approved soil replacement strategy followed by grading to AOC to replaced soil dumped in piles

•Builds on studies in other regions but emphasizes below-ground dynamics (rooting strategies) as affected by soil physical and nutritional properties

•Provides for assessment of the feasibility hand planting vs. machine planting in loose soil

•Provides a demonstration site specific to the Midwestern Coal Region

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Background

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•Post Implementation of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)Reforestation related to soil, site, and competing vegetation

•Recent strategies in soil replacement

•Advent of the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA)Create a suitable rooting medium no less than 4’ deepNo grading or loosely gradedGround cover compatible with growing treesPlant multiple tree speciesUse proper planting techniques

Experimental Procedures/Methodologies

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• Species: 1+0, bareroot, standard nursery grown

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•Northern Red Oak•Bur Oak•Swamp White Oak•American Chestnut (BC3F1) Blight Resistant

•Soil Replacement

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•Soil graded to AOC

•Standard soil replacement and lightly graded

•Soil dumped in piles, minimum 40% overlap, not graded

•Fertilization/Ground Cover

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•Nitrogen (N) 50-75 lbs/acre

•Phosphorus (P) 80-100 lbs/acre (400 lb/acre di-ammonium phosphate)

•Perennial Ryegrass 10 lbs/acre

•Annual Ryegrass 5 lbs/acre

•Ladino or White Clover 3 lbs/acre

•Seedling Planting/Herbicide Treatments

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•Hand planted at 9 ft. x 9 ft. spacing (540 trees/acre)

•Roundup and Princep (2 ft. circle)

•Machine plant adjacent buffer strips with down-the-row herbicide application

•Raptor perches erected throughout the area

•Deer fencing

Experimental Design

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•Split plot design with 4 replications (2 x 4)•Equal number of each tree species planted randomly in each plot (67 trees of each species in each plot)

SP

SP

LD

SP LD

SP

LD

LD Block 3

Block 1

Block 2

Block 4

Buffer Zone

Measurement Variables

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•Seedling growth, survival, and morphology•Presorted – Reduce Variability•Subsample to Estimate Initial Morphology

•Height, Diameter, (RCD), Shoot and Root Volume, Shoot and Root Dry Weight

•Field Measurements•Height and RCD – Spring and Fall•Survival and evidence of animal damage•Foliar chlorosis

•Excavated Seedlings – 32 seedlings/1 plant per species per replication

•Height, RCD, Shoot and Root Volume, Root and Shoot Dry Weight

Seedling Nutrition

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•Subsample – Nutrient Concentrations in Stems and Roots

•Excavated Seedlings – Nutrient concentrations of Stems, Roots and Leaves

•Seedlings Repeatedly Sampled – Foliage only for N,P,K values

Seedling Physiology

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•Mid-day Water Potential

Soil Sampling

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•Separated by depths 0-15, 15-30, 30-45 cm

•Chemical Properties

•pH, soluble salts, N, P, K, Ca, Mg

•Physical Properties

•Bulk Density and Water Holding Capacity(Undisturbed Cores 0-60 cm / 15 cm sections)

•Water Intake (Infiltration Rate) of Simulated Rainfall of 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 inch per hour – May, July, September•Hydraulic Conductivity – Throughout the year•Soil Erosion – Pre and Post Growing Seasons

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