ABSTRACT:
A major test of whether land strip-mined for coal has been successfully reclaimed is how the land's post-mining productivity and use compare with the productivity and use of similar, nonmined land. Among the criteria for making such a comparison are animal performance, vegetative production, vegetative composition and diversity, and plant and canopy cover. The relationship of plant and canopy cover to predicted soil loss is important also. A comparison of such data from a reclaimed site near Center, North Dakota, with similar data from nonmined sites showed productivity on the reclaimed site to be comparable to that on nonmined land, thus indicating effective reclamation.
Footnotes
L. Hofmann is a research agronomist, R. E. Ries is a range scientist, and R. J. Lorenz is a research agronomist at the Northern Great Plains Research Center, Science and Education Administration—Agricultural Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mandan, North Dakota 58554. This paper was originally presented at a symposium, “Adequate Reclamation of Mined Lands?”, in Billings, Montana, March 26-27, 1980. The research was supported in part by funds from the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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