Results 



Human error and human activities in the planted areas in- 

 fluenced the evaluations slightly. Three of the twenty -two 

 plantations were not delineated on the map. Attempts to 

 locate the three plantations— youngest listed— on the ground 

 were unsuccessful. Thus, the data are from 19 plantations 

 that are 46 to 61 years old and total 150 acres. 



Two plantations documented as white pine were actually 

 Scotch pine. It was assumed that the planting dates were 

 correct. 



In several of the lots, there was evidence of logging activity. 

 Examination of the stumps and logging debris indicated that 

 harvesting was confined to volunteer hardwood species. No 

 attempt was made to estimate the volume lost due to the 

 harvest operations. Thus, the volumes are low for the volun- 

 teer hardwoods. 



Volume per Acre of Planted Species 



There was a wide range between plantations in the per acre 

 volumes of planted species. Jack pine gave the highest vol- 

 ume, 10,567 board feet per acre. Red pine, though only in- 

 cluded in the younger plantations, had 7,364 board feet per 

 acre. White pine, Scotch pine, and Norway spruce volumes 

 were 4,284, 4,577, and 4,688 board feet per acre, respective- 

 ly. Pitch pine had the poorest volume with only 262 board 

 feet per acre. 



Species of Volunteer Vegetation 



Volunteer species were recorded in all plantations. The vol- 



unteer species included: black cherry (Prunus serotina), 

 red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (A. saccharum), 

 aspen {Populus sp.), and beech (Fagus grandi folia) . Black 

 cherry outnumbered the other volunteer species by about 

 two to one. On four sites, the merchantable volume of black 

 cherry was greater than or nearly equal to, that of the 

 planted species. 



Volume per Acre of Volunteer Species 



The following data were recorded for volunteer species. 

 Black cherry grew in all of the plantations; average volume 

 was 1,606 board feet per acre. Aspen, the second most com- 

 mon volunteer species, grew in 17 of the 19 plantations; 

 average volume was 271 board feet per acre. Sugar maple 

 grew in 8 plantations and red maple in 10. Their volumes 

 were 327 and 592 board feet per acre, respectively. Beech 

 volume was less than 200 board feet per acre in the two plan- 

 tations where it was recorded. 



A summary of the cruise data shows a total merchantable 

 volume of 1,100,000 board feet of timber on the 150 acres 

 of reclaimed surface mines. Of this total, 744,000 board feet 

 was from planted species and 356,000 board feet was from 

 volunteer species. In addition, the cruise data show an aver- 

 age of 131 square feet per acre of basal area for all species. 

 This includes 17 square feet per acre of less than merchant- 

 able-size planted species and 15 square feet per acre of less 

 than merchantable-size volunteer species. Tables 1 and 2 

 summarize the merchantable volumes of planted and volun- 

 teer species. Tables 3 and 4 summarize the basal area data 

 on planted and volunteer species. 



Table 3.— Basal area per acre of planted species, In square feet, (merchantable size versus unmerchantable size) by 

 plantation number 



Norway Jack Pitch White Scotch Red 



spruce pine pine pine pine pine 



1 22/28 34/2 (a) - - - 



2 18/25 - - 33/6 - - 



3 10/2 11/4 (a) 23/3 - - 



4 52/34 _ _ _ _ - 



5 _ _ _ 55/16 - - 



6 _ _ _ 46/34 - - 



7 _ _ _ 44/36 - 



8 - - 5/2 29/25 - - 



9 - - 1/0 6/6 16/5 - 



10 _ _ _ _ 23/10 10/2 



11 _ _ _ _ 55/12 - 



12 - - - - 33/17 - 



13 _ _ _ _ 33/10 - 



14 _ _ _ _ 63/16 - 



15 _ _ _ _ 26/7 - 



16 _ _ _ _ 22/20 - 



17 - - _ _ _ 26/4 



18 _____ 133/24 



19 _____ 92/34 



^Planted, but not recorded in cruise data. 



3 



