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Restoring the Vegetation of Mined Peatlands in the Southern Rocky

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Restoring the Vegetation of Mined Peatlands in the Southern Rocky sia simpliciusCllla {elk sedge), and Jllnclls arcticllS {arc- tic rush), and willow cuttings all had differing pat- terns of survival with respect to the annual maximum height of the water table. These results indicate that the dominant species can be successfully reintro- duced to mined surfaces with the appropriate hydro- logic conditions, but human intervention will be nec- essary to rapidly re-establish these species. The slow rate of peat accumulation means that restoration of the mined fens will require hundreds, if not thou- sands, of years. Key words: Colorado, South Park, Rocky Mountains, fen, restoration, peat mining. Introduction David J. Cooper1,2 Lee H. MacDonald 1 p eat mining is a widespread industry in boreal re- gions of the Holarctic, particularly in Russia, Fin- land, and Ireland where peat is used as fuel (Moore & Bellamy 1974; Mitsch & Gosselink 1993). In North Abstract America peat is mined primarily for use as a soil sup- South Park is a high-elevation, semi-arid, treeless in- plement; Canadian Sphagnum peat is well known and termountain basin in central Colorado. A few extreme widely used in the gardening and horticulture indus- rich fens occur on the western margin and in the cen- tries. Peat is also mined in the United States, especially ter of South Park where regional and local groundwa- in Michigan and Minnesota, and to a much more lim- ter flow systems discharge to the ground surface. Over ited extent in Colorado (Carpenter & Farmer 1981; the past 40 years there has been extensive peat mining Stevens & Dorfer 1989). in these fens, but restoration methods have yet to be The relatively dry continental climate in Colorado developed and successfully applied. The first part of means that peatlands are found only in high-elevation this study compared the naturally reestablished vege- sites where a constant supply of groundwater main- tation on six mined peatlands with six pristine sites, tains saturated soils. Peatlands occupy only about 0.1% while the second part of the study tested different of Colorado's land area, and they are classified as tran- revegetation techniques in 27 plots with varying depths sitional rich, rich, and extreme rich fens (Cooper & Andrus to the water table. The six mined sites had only 30 1994; Cooper 1996). The dominant species are usually plant species as compared with 122 species in the un- Carex (sedges) and Salix (willows), with little Sphagnum mined sites; 43% of the species in the mined sites cover (Cooper 1990; Cooper & Andrus 1994). were not present in the undisturbed fens. Even after Although Colorado peatlands are mined primarily 40 years the sedges and willows that dominate the un- for horticultural material, they have also been mined to disturbed sites were largely absent on the mined sites. reclaim land for livestock grazing and create fishing The revegetation experiments seeded eight species, ponds. In contrast to areas such as Finland (Heikkila & transpJanted Carex aquatilis (water sedge) seedlings, Lindholm 1995), Britain (Anderson et al. 1995), and transplanted rhizomes from six species, and trans- northern Europe (Zeitz 1995), few Colorado peatlands planted four species of willow cuttings. Of the eight have been converted to agriculture or forestry .Peat species seeded, only Triglochin maritima (arrow grass) mining in Colorado is particularly destructive, as in germinated and established seedlings. C. aqltatilis most cases the entire peat body is removed with a seedlings, rhizome transplants of C. aqltatilis, Kobre- dredge. The loss of this organic layer alters both the hy- drologic condition and the substrate available for recol- 1Department of Earth Resources,Colorado State University onization. Because most Colorado peatlands are relatively Fort Collins, CO 80523,U.s.A. small, most mined surfaces in Colorado have an adja- 2Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State uni- versity , Fort Collins, CO 80523,U.s.A. cent area with relatively undisturbed peatland vegeta- tion. The seeds from these undisturbed areas can be @ 2000 Society for Ecological Restoration widely dispersed by surface runoff during spring JUNE 2000 Restoration Ecology Vol. 8 No.2, pp. 103-111 103 Restorillg Mined Peatland Vegetatioll - snowmelt. Field observations indicate that many mined ration of extreme rich fens in Colorado and possibly areas can remain relatively unvegetated for decades, or elsewhere in the central and northern Rocky Moun- be colonized by pioneer species that are not commonly tains. found in undisturbed peatlands. Many mined areas show little recolonization by the dominant fen species, Study Area even after 40 years. These observations are generally consistent with The study was conducted in the northwestern part of studies of the recolonization of mined surfaces in Fin- South Park, which is a relatively level, semi-arid, cold, lan~. salonen (1992, 1994) and salonen and Setiilii (1992) high-elevation steppe. Elevations range from 2,900 to reported that seed source, nutrients, and shade limit the 3,100 m, while the peaks in the surrounding mountain natural recolonization of mined surfaces in Finland. ranges reach over 4,200 m. Average annual precipita- However, many mined surfaces may remain largely un- tion is only 250 mm, and potential evapotranspiration is vegetated for decades, even when a seed source is approximately 865 mm (spahr 1981). Approximately present (salonen & Setiilii 1992; salonen 1994). The rhi- 72% of the annual precipitation occurs during mid- to zomatous species of Carex that dominate Holarctic fens late-summer. Winters are generally dry, with less than and meadows rarely produce new genets (Gorham & 10 mm of precipitation falling in most months. Periods Somers 1973; Callaghan 1976; Ratliff 1983;Jonsdottir & of several weeks without precipitation are common Callaghan 1988; Jonsson et al. 1996). Seedlings of Carex year-round. The limited winter precipitation and fre- are apparently established only during a relatively brief quent winds result in little or no snow cover for ex- period of ecosystem initiation, with little additional re- tended periods. cruitment as the community closes. Clonal genets may The Mosquito Range forms the western boundary of be very old (Eriksson 1993;Jonsson et al. 1996). South Park, and these mountains are the source of most The majority of peat mining in Colorado has oc- of the surface and ground water in the fens. Annual curred in South Park, a large, cold, high-elevation inter- runoff is dominated by the seasonalsnowmelt peak in mountain basin located 120 km southwest of Denver. early June. The extensive areas of limestone and dolo- This is the only location in the southern Rocky Moun- mite in the Mosquito Range produce surface and tain region where extreme rich fens occur, and these ground water that is highly calcareous. Ca2+concentra- fens are the southernmost limit for a large number of tions can exceed 50-100 mg/kg and the pH is generally boreal plant taxa in North America. Thus the fens in greater than 7.6 (Cooper 1996). The high pH and cal- South Park are floristically unique and of great conser- cium concentrations create extreme rich fen conditions vation importance (Cooper 1991a, 1991b, 1996; Cooper (sjors 1950, 1961; Slack et al. 1980;Vitt & Chee 1990). & sanderson 1997). Over the last 40 years mining has South Park's extreme rich fens occur in a north-south greatly altered many of these extreme rich fens, but belt approximately 50 km in length within 10 km of the revegetation and restoration have generally not been at- base of the Mosquito Range. They range in size from tempted. less than 1 ha to several square kilometers (Cooper & Qualitative observations suggested that natural recol- sanderson 1997). The peat is from 1 m to more than 3 m onization was not satisfactory. Therefore, this study thick, and peat basal dates range from approximately was designed to more systematically evaluate the re- 8,000 to nearly 12,000years BP, with mean rates of peat covery of mined fens and test techniques for restoring accumulation ranging from 8 to 30 cm/l,OOO years in the dominant plant species in mined areas. The purpose South Park peatlands (0. Cooper, unpublished data). of this research was to determine which fen species are Within the fens there appear to be three distinct units naturally recolonizing mined surfaces and to test four defined by a combination of hydrologic regime, topog- different revegetation techniques in mined plots. The raphy, and vegetation composition. These units are: (1) four revegetation techniques that we tested were seed- peat hummocks and hollows, with the hummocks dom- ing, transplanting greenhouse-grown seedlings, trans- inated by the Trichophorumpumilum!Kobresia simplicius- planting rhizomes from adjacent sites, and transplant- cula community and the hollows by the Eriophorum an- ing willow stem cuttings. Because depth to the water gustifolium/funcusalpino-articulatus community; (2) springs table is a dominant control on wetland vegetation (Mitsch dominated by either the Triglochin maritima/Carexaqua- & Gosselink 1993), the revegetation techniques were tilis or T. maritima/Carex simulata communities; and (3) tested on replicated plots located along a water table water tracks dominated by either the T. maritima/Tri- gradient. By analyzing the successof each revegetation glochin palustris or Carex microglochin/Eleocharisquinque- technique along this gradient, we were able to evaluate flora communities (Cooper 1996). Peat mining has oc- the relative sensitivities of each species and each tech- curred in all of these units and typically leaves no more nique to the height of the water table. This information than a few centimeters of organic substrate on top of is necessary for the management, protection, and resto- Pleistocene outwash sands and gravel. After mining, 104 Restoration Ecology JUNE2000 Restoring Mined Fe 'ant; the sites can be quite wet due to continuing groundwa- six times during 1992,and less regularly during the sum- ter discharge, or, more commonly, the removal of the mers of 1993 and 1994.
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