Land rehabilitation research at Pacific Northwest Laboratories

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7321112· OSTI ID:7321112

Rickard, W H; Sauer, R H

One of the major goals of rehabilitation of surface mined lands is to establish a self-sustaining vegetative cover. The cover should provide protection against wind and water erosion and provide forage for wildlife and livestock comparable to that of pre-mining conditions. Although livestock grazing has been practiced in the Western United States for more than a century there is a general paucity of information concerning the primary productivity of western rangelands. The productivity of sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass ecosystems was studied at the U. S. ERDA Hanford Reservation in South Central Washington. Here a stand of sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass vegetation was quantitatively sampled for four consecutive years, and results are reported from a controlled cattle grazing study to determine the ability of sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass communities to sustain moderate grazing pressure, and to measure weight gains of cattle. The effects of severe soil disturbances caused by plowing on native plant communities were also studied. The purpose of the restoration of surface mined lands conducted on the arid Hanford Reservation is to use modern machinery such as that used in removing the overburden from coal seams to create an environment that is more favorable to plant growth than conventional land leveling and topsoiling. The project consists of two parts: modifying the topography to accumulate precipitation (water harvest), and the placement of topsoil in sufficient depth to provide soil water storage and mineral nutrition to enable the growth of plants with greater productivity and higher economic value than those plants that can be cultivated under conventional land restoration practices.

• Research Organization: Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-06-1830
• OSTI ID: 7321112
• Report Number(s): BNWL-SA-6089
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510500* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AGRICULTURE
ANIMAL FEEDS
ANIMALS
ARID LANDS
BIOMASS
CATTLE
CLIMATES
CONTROL
DESERTS
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
EROSION
FOOD
FORAGE
GRASS
GROUND WATER
HANFORD RESERVATION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LAND RECLAMATION
LAND USE
MAMMALS
METEOROLOGY
MINING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUTRIENTS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
PREFERRED SPECIES
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
RUMINANTS
SHRUBS
SURFACE MINING
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
TOPOGRAPHY
TREES
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERTEBRATES
WATER
WATER REQUIREMENTS