Restoring Sustainable Forests on Appalachian Mined Lands for Wood Products, Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Other Ecosystem Services
The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. We are currently estimating the acreage of lands in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania mined under SMCRA and reclaimed to non-forested post-mining land uses that are not currently under active management, and therefore can be considered as available for carbon sequestration. To determine actual sequestration under different forest management scenarios, a field study was installed as a 3 x 3 factorial in a random complete block design with three replications at each of three locations, one each in Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. The treatments included three forest types (white pine, hybrid poplar, mixed hardwood) and three silvicultural regimes (competition control, competition control plus tillage, competition control plus tillage plus fertilization). Each individual treatment plot is 0.5 acres. Each block of nine plots is 4.5 acres, and the complete installation at each site is 13.5 acres. Regression models of chemical and physical soil properties were created in order to estimate the SOC content down the soil profile. Soil organic carbon concentration and volumetric percent of the fines decreased exponentially down the soil profile. The results indicated that one-third of the total SOC content on mined lands was found in the surface 0-13 cm soil layer, and more than two-thirds of it was located in the 0-53 cm soil profile. A relative estimate of soil density may be best in broad-scale mine soil mapping since actual D{sub b} values are often inaccurate and difficult to obtain in rocky mine soils. Carbon sequestration potential is also a function of silvicultural practices used for reforestation success. Weed control plus tillage may be the optimum treatment for hardwoods and white pine, as any increased growth resulting from fertilization may not offset the decreased survival that accompanied fertilization. Relative to carbon value, our analysis this quarter shows that although short-rotation hardwood management on reclaimed surface mined lands may have higher LEVs than traditional long-rotation hardwood management, it is only profitable in a limited set of circumstances.
- Research Organization:
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG26-02NT41619
- OSTI ID:
- 862135
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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RESTORING SUSTAINABLE FORESTS ON APPALACHIAN MINED LANDS FOR WOOD PRODUCTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, AND OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
RESTORING SUSTAINABLE FORESTS ON APPALACHIAN MINED LANDS FOR WOOD PRODUCTS, RENEWABLE ENERGY, CARBON SEQUESTRATION, AND OTHER ECOSYSTEM SERVICES