PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #13: Restoration Ecology.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall

Effect of coal surface mine revegetation practices on long-term recovery of southeastern hardwood forests.

Holl, Karen¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- Much legislation governing reclamation and restoration focuses on meeting short-term needs, such as erosion control, without considering effects on long-term ecosystem recovery. The goal of this research was to evaluate the effect of coal surface mine reclamation practices in the southeastern United States on mixed hardwood forest recovery. In the summers of both 1992 and 1999, I surveyed the vegetation on 18 sites reclaimed between 1967 and 1991, as well as on 5 unmined forest sites. Results showed that the dominant vegetation on the oldest reclaimed sites was similar to that of unmined forest sites, although a number of the rare species were not present on reclaimed sites. In the more recently reclaimed sites, tree basal area increased significantly between the two sampling periods, but herbaceous cover and species richness dropped dramatically due to a near monoculture of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). My results suggest that current mine reclamation practices, which include planting of aggressive herbaceous species and fast growing trees to meet short-term legislative requirements, may alter the successional trajectory in these forests.

KEY WORDS: reclamation, succession, eastern hardwood forest