Basics of Mine Land Revegetation

Powell River Project has developed a number of publications that apply to establishing vegetation on disturbed mine areas. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-122 reviews revegetation species suitable for erosion control, hay production, and livestock grazing.

Other publications relevant to revegetation include the following:

• A fertile mine soil with physical and chemical properties suitable for supporting plant growth is necessary for successful mined-land revegetation. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-121 describes procedures for constructing mine soils with properties suitable to support healthy plant cover.

• Recommended soil construction and revegetation practices for reforestation differ in some ways from hayland/pasture establishment recommendations. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-123 describes mine reforestation procedures.

• Soils with unfavorable properties for revegetation may require specialized procedures. practices for reforestation differ in some ways from hayland/pasture establishment recommendations. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-131 describes revegetation procedures suitable for coal refuse; these procedures can also be applied to other harsh sites characterized by acid soils.

Because most minesoils do not contain appreciable quantities of plant-available nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P),  managing N and P nutrition is critical to favorable successful revegetation. Principles of N and P nutrition in reclamation are explained by Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-122.
 

Hydroseeder Slurries

In the early 1980s, Powell River Project supported research by Dale Wolf on hydroseeding. Nitrogen-fixing legumes such as the clovers and birdsfoot trefoil are an important component of a vegetative community being established on mined lands, because new minesoils typically do not contain a large reservoir of soil nitrogen. Nitroben applied as fertilizer typically leaches out of the soil profile quite easily. In order for legumes to "fix" atmospheric nitrogen as plant-available forms, root-zone bacteria known as rhizobia must be present. The best way to assure that rhizobia become established with legumes is to add a bacterial innoculant to the hydroseeder mix. Powell River Project research concluded that the survival of these innoculant bacteria can be affected by the chemical characteristics of the hydroseeder slurry. Adding the innoculant to the slurry immediately before spraying, and reducing slurry acidity by adding lime to high-phosphorous slurry mixes, can improve innoculant survival and the subsequent ability of the hydroseeded legumes to fix nitrogen. For further information, see  Virginia Cooperative Extension publications 460-105 and 460-107, and Mark Brown's article in Journal of Environmental Quality.
 

Also see: Soil Development and Construction

Publications

Haering, K.C., W.L. Daniels, and S.E. Feagley. 2000. Reclaiming mined lands with biosolids, manures, and papermill sludges. Chapter 24, in: R. Barnhisle, W.L. Daniels, and R. Darmody (eds).  Reclamation of Drastically Lands. American Society of Agronomy. Madison, WI.

Abaye, O., and G. Evanylo. 1997. Plant Materials Used for Revegetation of Disturbed Sites. Teaching aide for use in CSES 3644. Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech. 24 pages.

Slousen, Jeff and Carl E. Zipper. 1996. Revegetation Species and Practices. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-122.

McCart, G. D., W. L. Daniels. 1985. Liming and fertilizing mine soils. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-102.

Wolf, D. D., R. D. Morse, and J. L. Neal. 1985. Revegetation: Usingwood-fiber slurries to bind straw mulch. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-106.

Wolf, Dale, R.E. Blaser, R. Morse, and J. Neal. 1984. Hydro-application of seed and wood-fiber slurries to bind straw mulch. Reclamation and Revegetation Research 3:101-107.

Wolf, D. D., R. D. Morse, and J. L. Neal. 1984. Legume innoculum survival in hydroseeder slurries. Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 460-105.

Brown, Mark R.. D. Wolf, R. Morse, and J. Neal. 1983. Viability of Rhizobium in fertilizer slurries used for hydroseeding. Journal of Environmental Quality 12(3):388-390.

Wolf, Dale, R. Morse, and J. Neal. 1983. Evaluating Rhizobium viability in commercial innoculum. Journal of Agronomic Education 12:83-86.