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Reforestation in soil with coal debris mixed in

Started by pine, February 14, 2016, 12:29:07 PM

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pine

Tried to search and came up with nothing.  Since some of our folks come from coal county they may have some good knowledge from coal mine reclamation projects they were involved in.

I have an area that I am trying to reforest.  I am out in the PNW not what most would think of as coal country but there were up until not that long ago active mines.  One area that I am dealing with is near an entrance to a lateral drift through a ridge.  The entrance has been closed and sealed but there are significant tailings (think that is the correct term) in the area. Undergrowth of the Himalayan Blackberry variety and scrub were growing quite vigorously in the area.  Now that I have removed that to plant seedlings I see the extent of the coal mixed into the soil.  It is a relatively fine size but is coal just the same.  There are trees growing in the area and the following picture is of a maple that has some age but also has disfiguring that may be related to the the area and soil.



The foreground of the picture and to the right is heavily laced with coal.  The shallow mound you see is quite literally a mound of coal that is over 100 years old.

Planting Douglas-fir  and Western red cedar in a mixed stand in the area.  Does anyone have any suggestions about the level of coal contamination that is acceptable in the soil before one should just not even try to plant a seedling?  I don't want to waste any area but there is no reason to plant a seedling if it has 100% mortality likelihood either.  Other than removing hundreds of yards of stuff and bringing in new soil what techniques have been used to reclaim coal contaminated soil back in what I call real coal country?
Thanks


Ljohnsaw

 :P

Interesting.  I wouldn't think coal would be toxic to plants other than possibly altering the soil PH.  Could you burn the coal, but then have to deal with the potash?
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

luvmexfood

You might look on the Virginia Tech website. If I remember correctly they did a project a few years back on that. Also check the state mining board in your state and if you can't find anything helpful then look at Virginia Department of Mining or something like that.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

venice

There are only two options: Replacing the soil to fit the species you want to grow, or promote those that are tolerant to the conditons. Most likely low quality stuff.

We are having large areas of open pit brown coal mining in the neighborhood that where or are in the process of recultivation.

In earlier years pionier species like poplar, aspen or willow have been planted. Nowadays the mining companies are forced to reestablish a soil quality that allows farming or mixed hardwood forests. That means the relevant top soil has to be replaced or added.

It is a massive undertaking. If you are not the one who inheried the fortune that has been made with the coal mining, i'd say forget about it. Might have some potential as wildlife habitat with berrys and all. But other than that in terms of added value? Probably not.

venice

enigmaT120

Were the other plants that you removed healthy?  Maybe the OSU extension foresters or your local ODF stewardship forester would know what trees will grow in that type of soil.  It doesn't seem to me like it would hurt them, but I don't know. 

I just hope you don't get a forest fire there, that would suck with the ground burning.

Ed Miller
Falls City, Or

Ron Scott

Ditto to what Venice stated above. Soil restoration is needed to reestablish the ecosystems vegetative precondition.
~Ron

Ron Wenrich

When I was at Penn State, we went to some coal reclamation areas.  This was back in the late '60s and before they pulled the topsoil off prior to stripping, then putting it back on.  Penn State has done a bunch of research on mine reclamation, as well as the Pa Dept of Environmental Protection.  That might be a good place to get some advice.

I do remember the one area where they had a lot of success with black locust.  Black locust is a legume, and fixates nitrogen in the soil.  This was a way of building up soil.  They also used quite a bit of pine in the reclaim areas.  Red and white pine were usually used, as they can take a bit more acidic soil than most hardwoods.  Aspen was another that was used. 

I do know that when driving around some of the unclaimed areas, you will find aspen and birch growing naturally, as well as some scrub pine.  Growth isn't very good due to the lack of soil.  That sounds like what your tailings is like.  For reclamation, you'll have to build up the soil.

It seemed like they used the fast growing species to do that.  I don't know if your western cedar and Doug fir would quite fit the bill.  Have you inquired are your state's mining department?
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

brianJ

Vigourous undergrowth and  himilayan blackberries  indicates soil is not a limiting factor.   This link http://www.invasive.org/gist/moredocs/rubarm01.pdf describes himilayan blackberries as preferring moisture so indicates rainfall and soil water holding capacity is not a limiting factor.  The best control for those blackberries is shade.   That multi stemmed maple shows that trees do grow and get big.

In my opinion you do not have a soil problem or a site problem but an establishment problem.   
You get trees to take and shade out those blackberries and natural woodland plants will fill in the understory.    Measure Ph before you start.  Severe acidity may limit what you establish.

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