AML Reforestation Success
Part of Ohio’s Reclamation Program

Lower priority abandoned mine land is best reclaimed through reforestation. By itself, or in combination with the placement of sediment control structures on severely eroding sites, reforestation is an economical alternative to traditional reclamation as the following figures indicate: 

Since 1982, DMRM has planted close to 7.2 million trees on more than 5,500 acres of mostly privately owned land. Trees are planted on barren or poorly vegetated spoil banks from strip mines and abandoned coal refuse piles with a soil pH of 3.0-4.0. Additional plantings are made on recently restored abandoned mine sites to reduce runoff in flood-prone watersheds.

Planting usually occurs in Ohio from March 1 to mid-April to optimize seedling survival prior to budding. It is completed by private contractors awarded bids on a competitive basis.

Ohio’s reforestation program has planted an average of 255,723 seedlings per year since its inception with sixty percent treated with the P.t. fungus. Ohio has found that it can successfully grow pine species and oak species using the P.t. technique. These species, along with American chestnut, are excellent host species for P.t. inoculant.

Ohio also plants non-inoculated black and bristly locust, black alder, green and white ash, sawtooth and red oak, bald cypress, sweetgum, red cedar, butternut, river birch, burr oak, tulip poplar, shumard and white oak, and several other shrub species favored by wildlife. These species are planted primarily on areas that have already been reclaimed using conventional regrading, resoiling and revegetation techniques.

It is not uncommon for 1,100 trees to be planted per acre. This heavy initial stocking compensates for the expected loss of seedlings from deer browse, compaction of mine spoil and competition from established grasses and legumes.

The funding source for Ohio’s reforestation program is the State Abandoned Mine Land Fund created by the severance tax established by the 1972 Strip Mine Law. Since 1982, the annual cost to the program has been approximately $108,157.

• Reforestation Program Totals (1982-2009)

The study of chestnut seedlings planted on mined land was furthered in 2003 and 2004 when the division planted both P.t. treated 7/8 (BC3F2) chestnuts and pure American chestnuts in four locations reflecting various reclaimed site conditions. The planting was evaluated by Dr. Brian McCarthy of Ohio University and Dr. Carolyn Keiffer of Miami University. Read more in the Ohio Report on American Chestnut Planting between 2003-2004.

Kilmer Ales-Run site, Noble County Seedlings and site conditions two years after planting	Kilmer Ales-Run site 12 years after planting (originally planted in 1997)
Bowman Cemetary site Coshocton County before planting	Bowman Cemetary site 20 years after planting (originally planted in 1989)