Figure 65. Penny River mined area looking upstream. Note 

 the flooded conditions within the disturbed area, and 

 the overburden piles in the center of the site (circled 

 on photograph ) . 



water or water saturated soils. A small 0.6 ha, 1.5 m deep pit was dug in 

 the southeast corner of the site. The hydraulic analysis shows that the 

 Penny River site is flooded for short durations during higher flows on an 

 annual and possibly semiannual basis. Flows of only approximately 150 per- 

 cent of mean annual flow begin to flood the material site. 



During the II growing seasons following the disturbance, only sparse, 

 scattered pioneer and early willow floodplain communities had developed 

 within the scraped portions of the Penny River site. These early succes- 

 sional habitats were not present in the undisturbed floodplain reach which, 

 as previously stated, consisted almost entirely of mature shrub thickets. 

 Thus, the structure of the vegetative community within the mined site 

 changed for the long-term from one dominated by dense mature shrub thicket 

 habitats to one dominated by scattered and low-density immature herbaceous 

 and woody species that are adapted to wet soil conditions. Repeated stress 

 from annual or semiannual high water, combined with the continuously 



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