VALUE OF COMMERCIAL FORESTRY AS A POST-MINING LAND USE

Abstract

Forestry is becoming the preferred post-mining land use in the Appalachian region for the landowner as the value of forests becomes recognized. During the summer of 1996, a study was conducted in a white pine (Pinus strobus L.) plantation that was established in 1978 on a pre-SMCRA bench located in Wise County, Virginia. The objectives of this study were to illustrate the feasibility of commercial forestry as a post-mining land use, and to identify relationships between tree productivity and mine soil physical properties. The spoil was a deep, non-compacted, slightly-acid. weathered sandstone that had no topsoil applied. A timber inventory of the plantation showed that it was overstocked, therefore the plantation was thinned down to 20 m{sup 2} ha{sup -1} (90 ft{sup 2} of basal area per acre). The average tree height was 14.3 in (47 ft), translating to a very high site index of 35 in (110 ft; base age 50), compared to site indices of 24 in (80 ft) and 18.3 in (60 ft) for adjacent undisturbed forest soils and post-SMCRA reclaimed mine soils, respectively. When these site indices were used to project tree growth for 30 years, the estimated timber per-acre value was $3,480, $1,755, and $122more » for the non-compacted mine soil, undisturbed forest soil, and typical post-SMCRA mine soil, respectively. The twenty-fold difference in the timber value between the non-compacted none soil and the typical post-SMCRA mine soil represents a tremendous lost opportunity. for most post-SMCRA sites that are not reclaimed for commercial forestry. The high productivity of the white pine plantation growing on the pre-SMCRA bench was attributed to low soil bulk density and a moderately-acid sandstone mine soil. Reclamation practices that result in these desirable soil properties need to be encouraged, so that restored forest land will be profitable for the landowner, meet society`s needs, and meet the spirit and letter of the SMCRA.« less