Technical Guides on Use of Reference Areas and Technical Standards for Evaluating Surface Mine Revegetation in OSM (Office of Surface Mining), Regions 1 and 2

摘要

The handbook was prepared to assist mine operators and regulatory authorities in evaluating success of reclamation vegetation in the Appalachian coalfields. Section 1 is devoted to pastureland and other agronomic and horticultural crops, postmining land uses for which the use of both the reference area and technical standards approaches to productivity are suitable. Section 2 deals with considerations relative to the use of reference areas in evaluating reclamation for forestry, wildlife management, and watershed protection and suggests technical standards be adopted as the regulatory approach. Section 3 describes a system for evaluating revegetation where the postmining land use is forestry and where standards (woody plants per acre and ground cover percentage) are fixed by regulation.