Evaluation of desert bloom plus, ion oxide film in reclamation efforts, Navajo Mine, northwest New Mexico

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:98672

Hyder, D; Buchanan, B A ^[1]; Peete, D ^[2]

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1. Buchanan Consultants, Ltd., Farmington, NM (United States)
2. Navajo Mine, Fruitland, NM (United States); and others

Reclamation practices at Navajo Mine involve the establishment of native vegetation on mined lands. Currently, this involves corporation of a grass hay mulch into the soil following seeding. The mulch retards moisture loss and impedes wind erosion. Reclamation areas are characteristically irrigated for two seasons. In 1992, management of Navajo Mine became interested in finding an alternative to the use of grass hay mulch that would be readily available year to year, be of consistent quality and cost, less expensive to apply, sterile, and as good as or better than hay mulch in its ability to maintain consistent soil moisture. A commercially available chemical product, Desert Bloom Plus, manufactured by Hydra-Soil International, is a possible replacement for mulch. A study implemented in June 1993, sought to compare vegetal performance using mulch and Desert Bloom (DBP) in irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. Test results indicate a significant positive response of mean total cover, mean perennial grass and mean annual forb cover to irrigation. There were no differences comparing DBP, Mulch, and DBP-Mulch in either irrigated or non-irrigated treatments. Mean total cover and annual forb cover values of DBP-Mulch treatments tend to be slightly higher than mean total cover and annual forb cover values of Mulch treatments in irrigated and non-irrigated treatments.

• OSTI ID: 98672
• Report Number(s): CONF-9506226--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COAL MINES
COAL MINING
IRRIGATION
LAND RECLAMATION
PLANT GROWTH
PLANTS
REVEGETATION