Surface mining in West Virginia has been taking place for nearly a century.  Most of the land disturbed was once covered in eastern deciduous forest. Returning the reclaimed land to a productive forest requires placing proper soil material and planting appropriate hardwood tree species. In addition to these factors, a variety of amendments, such as bark mulch, can be added to mine soil during reclamation. The objective of this research is to evaluate tree growth in weathered brown sandstone and in unweathered gray sandstone treated with and without bark mulch and with and without hydroseeding. At the ICG-Eastern mine in Webster County, WV, a 4-hectare demonstration plot, containing eight soil treatment combinations, was planted with a variety of hardwood tree species on 2.5 by 2.5 m spacing.

Results/Conclusions

After three years, plots of brown sandstone alone and brown sandstone with hydroseeding had an average pH of 5.1, while gray sandstone and gray sandstone with hydroseeding had a pH of 7.8. Brown and gray sandstone with bark mulch and with bark mulch/hydroseeding had an average pH of 7.4. After three growing seasons, average survival across brown sandstone alone was 74%, with bark mulch 80%, with hydroseeding 67%, and with bark mulch/hydroseeding 61%.  Tree survival on gray sandstone alone was 68%, with bark mulch 70%, with hydroseeding 48%, and with bark mulch/hydroseeding 64%. Tree survival across treatment combinations for sugar maple was 65%, white pine 82%, northern red oak 69%, and black cherry 79%. Growth in the form of volume index (volume index (cm³) = height x diameter²) for these four species was sugar maple 14 cm³, white pine 101 cm³, northern red oak 94 cm³, and black cherry 176 cm³.