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Integrating Forestry Reclamation Approach for American Chestnut and Oaks in Mid-Continent Region

This study aims to integrate the Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) for the reclamation of American chestnut and oak forests on reclaimed coal mined lands in the Midwestern Coal Region. The study will examine the effects of soil replacement strategies on survival, growth, rooting strategies, and nutrient uptake of blight-resistant hybrid American chestnut and oak seedlings. The goal is to devise a practical, cost-effective, and efficient management approach that promotes seedling growth and facilitates mine reclamation success.

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Integrating Forestry Reclamation Approach for American Chestnut and Oaks in Mid-Continent Region

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  1. Integrating the Forestry Reclamation Approach for Reclamation of American Chestnut and Oaks in the Mid-Continent Region

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. Focus and Overall ObjectivesWithin 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.

  5. 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

  6. Background • 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’ deep • No grading or loosely graded • Ground cover compatible with growing trees • Plant multiple tree species • Use proper planting techniques

  7. Experimental Procedures/Methodologies

  8. Species: 1+0, bareroot, standard nursery grown • Northern Red Oak • Bur Oak • Swamp White Oak • American Chestnut (BC3F1) Blight • Resistant

  9. Soil Replacement • Soil graded to AOC • Standard soil replacement and lightly graded • Soil dumped in piles, minimum 40% overlap, • not graded

  10. Fertilization/Ground Cover • 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

  11. Seedling Planting/Herbicide Treatments • 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

  12. Experimental Design • 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) LD SP Block 1 SP LD Block 2 SP LD Block 3 LD SP Block 4 Buffer Zone

  13. Measurement Variables • 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

  14. Seedling Nutrition • 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

  15. Seedling Physiology • Mid-day Water Potential

  16. Soil Sampling • 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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