Abstract

While land reclamation efforts of surface mines have considerably increased soil stability since the implementation of SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act), research suggests that resulting soil compaction hinders the productivity of forests post-mining. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed to improve forest health in the Appalachian region through a five-step process that minimizes soil compaction and establishes a productive forest. The FRA has not yet been tested in the western Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP). The higher clay content of some GCP soils and the dearth of coarse fragments (e.g., cobbles, stones and boulders) may affect reclamation practices and the ability of these methods to create productive forests. Compaction caused by conventional reclamation methods in the GCP has not been studied in great detail. Thus, this study attempts to provide a comparison of two reclamation methods, FRA low-compaction method used in the Appalachian region with that of conventional scraper-pan (scraper) methods in the GCP. This study used the FRA with common silvicultural practices of the western Gulf. The two hectare study site was installed with a randomized complete block design with three replicates comparing conventional scraper reclamation used in the region with that of an unmined control and the FRA-style low compaction treatment. Following soil reclamation, containerized loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings of a western Gulf provenance were hand-planted. Soil chemical and physical parameters were assessed on each treatment to determine the effect the FRA and scraper method had on resulting tree seedling growth and survival. After three growing seasons, seedlings in the FRA plots had significantly greater tree volumes than both the scraper (p = 0.0139) and the control (p = 0.0247) treatments. The FRA plots also had a 97% survival rate, while scraper plots had a survival of 86%. The FRA plots had significantly lower soil bulk densities than scraper (p = 0.0353) and control (p < 0.0001) plots which likely influenced growth and survival trends. Soil nutrients were increasingly available on the FRA and scraper plots, likely due to mixing of the soil profile when compared to the unmined control. Leaf-level water potential and gas exchange were not correlated to growth and survival and did not differ among treatments. These results suggest reclamation practices modeled after FRA methods may benefit tree growth and survival in the Western Gulf.

Highlights

  • The Moswell soil series typically has a dominant textural class of loam from 0 to 12 cm and clay texture 12 cm to 177 cm. This soil series profile aligns with the textural classes observed of each treatment; the control had a clay loam texture, and the scraper and Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) treatments had significantly more clay, in turn being classified as clay

  • Treatment effects were observed in both bulk density and soil strength, with FRA treatments having the lowest values of both variables (Figure 4a,b)

  • The use of the FRA low compaction treatment resulted in soil with lower soil bulk density and strength

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Summary

Introduction

The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed in Appalachia with the aim of encouraging native forest growth by producing a less compacted surface material that would be more suitable for tree growth, and encouraging proper practices to establish trees This occurs through a five-step process to reclaim a productive forest: selecting and applying a suitable growth medium (e.g., the best parent material available for tree growth), ensuring the surface soil for at least 1.3 m is uncompacted, sowing seed of a tree-friendly ground cover that will not outcompete seedlings, selecting a mix of early-and late-successional tree species, and using proper tree planting techniques [2]. This process has not yet been tested in the Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP)

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