The economy of Wyoming is dependent on resource extraction that often leads to drastically altered ecosystems. A complete understanding of changes in soil properties after such activities is warranted prior to rehabilitating these ecosystems. Reclamation of land disturbed for energy development in Wyoming is often limited by the harsh climate, nutrient-poor soils further degraded by disturbance, invasive species, and herbivory. We assessed entire soil profiles on reclaimed and undisturbed soils of six well-pad locations in two natural gas fields in southwest Wyoming for differences in morphological, chemical, physical and SOM properties. Reclaimed soils were found to have thinner and finer-textured A horizons than undisturbed soils, and reclaimed subsoils tended to be more alkaline than undisturbed subsoils. Deep subsoil horizons of reclaimed soils had less calcite (CaCO3) than undisturbed soils. We also evaluated the effects of a controlled livestock treatment on soil and vegetation community characteristics on 10 reclaimed well pads in three natural gas fields. A stocking rate of 240 cattle ha -1 d-1 was applied to reclaimed well pads in the fall of 2009. Immediately after the treatment was applied, marked increases in labile organic C were observed. This effect diminished by the following spring and levels were comparable to those of the reclaimed reference sites. Newly-seeded vegetation responded to the controlled livestock treatment with higher desired species richness and density than that of the reclaimed reference plots (P0.1).
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