Figure 28.— Soil column used for State certification of recla- 

 mation topsoiling at the Black Mesa mine in Arizona. The 

 darker areas in the soil column are carbonaceous fossil 

 soil zones. All of this predominantly sandy soil zone, repre- 

 sented by the column, is used for topsoiling. In this region 

 of generally poor soils, only the upper foot is considered 

 as topsoil. November 1978. 



significant propoilion of the vegetation should 

 be native species and have a diversity potential 

 approaching that of the premined land. One of 

 the specific conditions under which introduced 

 species can be substituted for native species is 

 when "the [introduced] species are compatible 

 with the plant and animal species of the region" 

 (par. 816.112(c); this paragraph exemplifies the 

 need for greater diversity. Because of the limited 

 soil moisture resources of the western coal 

 region, however, it is difficult to assume that a 

 successfully introduced competitive plant 

 would be compatible with all existing species. 

 The premining diversities shown in table 1 prob- 

 ably represent only the more numerous species, 



except for the 163 species identified at the 

 McKinley mine in a research study by Wagner 

 and others (1978, p. 69). Power (1978, p. 531) has 

 shown that many rangelands contain over 40 

 plant species. Wall and Freeman (1973, p. 31-39), 

 in examining seven North Dakota coal mining 

 areas, reported that the adjacent unmined lands 

 contained from 11 to 23 plant species. Whatever 

 the true values may be, past reclamation efforts 

 evidently have not approached premining diver- 

 sities in species number, and even less in plant- 

 life forms and proportion of native species. 



OPERATIONAL DIFFERENCES 



The mines examined in this study were visited 

 by the team in about 10 days, although various 

 members of the team had visited specific mines 

 at other times. Because the time spent at each 

 mine was short, the following observations on 

 differences in reclamation operations are quali- 

 tative only. 



Many of the mines visited had been active for 

 15 years or more, but others were comparatively 

 new (1 to 5 years old). All, however, operated 

 under changing reclamation directives from 

 State and Federal agencies; these changing 

 regulations and guidelines produced differences 

 in ways of shaping the land, handling drainage, 

 and encouraging revegetation. A wide variation 

 also existed in corporate compliance with and 

 interpretation of reclamation laws. At some old 

 mines, the spoils remained abandoned; at 

 others, corrections were made voluntarily 

 (fig. 35); and at some mines more problems were 

 created by reclamation attempts (fig. 24). Many 

 mining companies had foreseen impending 

 changes in regulations and had reacted accord- 

 ingly to ensure the continuity of the mining. 

 Some companies were even ahead of the regula- 

 tory requirements in applying new and advanced 

 reclamation techniques. Many companies had 

 cooperated in large-scale research projects and 

 test plots supervised by Government and State 

 agencies and by universities. A few companies 

 had experimented on their own with reclamation 

 practices. 



Part of the difficulty of operating under regula- 

 tions is the way in which they are interpreted and 

 enforced. Within a State or at adjacent mines, 

 official guidance had sometimes been different 



43 



