Metis Ass DA BON Bi Ie be TN at 
lamation. Extensive areas have been seeded to pasture or reforested, and 
many public recreation facilities have been established. In central Illinois, 
where the overburden contains fewer rocks, tractors can be used to cultivate 
row crops. Although soil conditions vary widely throughout the state, 
there are few areas which cannot be reclaimed. Under proper modern 
mining methods, the rocky and toxic materials are replaced at the bottom, 
and the better quality soil materials are put on top of them. 
The strip mining process leaves the land in a series of parallel ridges. 
The topography looks rather like the work of some hesitant glacier which 
retreated back and forth across the landscape. Very frequently the soil 
is strewn with rocks like unproductive wasteland. It is a surprise to many 
to learn that these “spoil banks” are actually much more fertile than 
surrounding farmland. 
Dr. W. D. Klimstra of Southern Illinois University says that these 
spoil banks contain high quantities of potassium, phosphorous, and trace 
elements and that they do not need liming. Since the soil material is 
very loose, the banks are highly permeable to water, but when grading is 
done, the soil becomes compacted and much less permeable. Immediately 
after stripping, these soils are very deficient in nitrogen and organic matter; 
yet they are not any more depleted than some of the land under marginal 
cultivation. 
An interesting study was conducted by S.I.U. on a 920-acre area near 
Pyatts in southern Illinois to determine what plants and animals estab- 
lished themselves on abandoned strip mines. This survey was conducted 
for 19 years with funds from the Pitman-Robertson Act. The dominant 
tree of the spoil banks is the cottonwood, which is the first to invade 
the freshly mined land. The wind-blown seed of the sycamore and 
sandbar willow also germinate on the bare ground especially in moist 
areas. 
The spoil banks offer a rather uniform environment and are not 
marked by great diversity in habitat. Those three species of trees—together 
with such herbs as white clover, goldenrod, aster, horsenettle, ragweed, and 
cheat—form the dominant vegatation on the fresh spoils. With time there 
is an increase in the number of perennial herbs plus such trees as the elm, 
box elder, silver maple, and persimmon. But even with increasing age 
there is no marked change from one dominant species to another. How- 
ever, 19 years is a relatively short time for any succession to occur; and 
in wreas which have been reforested, many species of forest trees are 
being grown. Where spoil banks adjoin unstripped woodland areas, there 
is a2 much greater opportunity for the introduction of trees whose seeds 
are varried by birds and mammals. 
Dr. Klimstra says that the only animal which gives any evidence of 
Suecession or change in the habitat is the mouse (Peromyscus). In the 
newer areas which were more open, the prairie deer mouse (P. manicu- 
latus bairdii) was the more common species. In the older, shadier areas, 
the white-footed mouse (P. leocopus) was the predominant species. 
In a survey of the birds of the Pyatts area, 44 species were counted 
in the breeding population. As might be expected, more birds were 
found in the older areas which support a greater variety of plants for 
food and cover. The strip mine lands often have a dense growth of weeds 
