Figure 7.— Aerial photograph showing rows of abandoned spoil piles at the Rosebud mine in Montana. In 40 years, little 

 natural vegetation has encroached on the steep slopes. Large cottonwoods are scattered in the low places; a final box 

 cut is filled with water and stocked with fish, and it provides refuge for some migratory waterfowl. Highwalls now must be 

 reduced under the new State and Federal laws. July 1978. 



mixtures of the two atid, in places, grade into 

 open woodland. The trees are largely pinyon and 

 juniper in the south and ponderosa pine in the 

 north. Some coal lands in the central part of the 

 region are covered by mixed aspen-oak brush 

 and mixed high-altitude shrubs called "moun- 

 tain brush." Spruce-fir forests cover the land 

 over some of the underground coal mines of 

 Utah and Colorado. 



The vegetation is, for the most part, native and 

 wild and is interrupted only occasionally by 

 pasture and cropland. North Dakota is the major 

 exception; there, much of the land overlying 

 areas of coal is in grain or hay crops. By far, the 

 dominant use of land is for livestock range. The 

 Federal lands are managed, under the multiple- 

 use policy, for both rangeland and for wildlife 

 habitat, and the planned postmining uses are 

 basically the same as those that existed before 

 mining whether the land is owned privately or by 

 the Government. 



SITE-SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS THAT 

 AFFECT RECLAMATION 



INTRODUCTION 



Reclamation is best planned and imple- 

 mented on a case-by-case basis. No single plan- 

 ning methodology is suitable for all mines. 

 Although the widest differences are regional, ad- 

 jacent mines within the same district or even 

 parts of a single mine may present distinct recla- 

 mation challenges, and individual adjustments 

 to the differences in soil materials, elevation, 

 slope, aspect, time and amount of precipitation, 

 and growing season are commonly needed. 

 Ignorance of site-specific characteristics of 

 mined areas has often hampered revegetation, 

 caused inaccurate statements, and necessitated 

 excessive expenditures. 



22 



