HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION WORKSHOP NO.9 Edited by Warren R
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PROCEEDINGS: HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION WORKSHOP NO.9 Edited by Warren R. Keammerer and Jeffrey Todd July 1990 Information Series No. 63 CO\..ORADO WATER RESOURCes RESEARCH INSTITUTE Colorado State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex,. veteran status or disability, or handicap. The University complies with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, related Executive Orders 11246 and 11375, Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Act of 1974, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, and all civil rights laws of the State of Colorado. Accordingly, equal opportunity for employment and admission shall be extended to all persons and the University shall promote equal opportunity and treatment through a positive and continuing affirmative action program. The Office of Equal Opportunity is located in Room 314, Student Services Building. In order to assist Colorado State University in meeting its affirmative action responsibilities, ethnic minorities, women, and other protected class members are encouraged to apply and to so identify themselves. The contents of this publication are the responsibility of the author(s) alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute or Colorado State University. ., PROCEEDINGS HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION WORKSHOP NO.9 Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado March 1-2, 1990 Edited by Warren R. Keammerer, Keammerer Ecological Consultants, Inc. Boulder, CO and Jeffrey Todd, AMAX Mineral Resources Co., Golden, CO Information Series No. 63 Water Resources Research Institute Colorado State University Copies available from: Bulletin Room Aylesworth Hall Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 ii PREFACE The Ninth High Altitude Revegetation Conference was held on March 1 and 2, 1990 at the Marriot Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado. The conference was organized by the High Altitude Revegetation Committee in conjunction with the Agronomy Department at Colorado State University. The conference was attended by a broad range of researchers, practitioners and government agency personnel from all over the country, and included representatives from four foreign countries. Over the past 16 years, the High Altitude Revegetation Workshops and Conferences have focused on presenting information about research projects, case histories, new revegetation technologies, new equipment and innovative ways to reclaim disturbed areas in high elevation settings. The ninth conference followed this basic philosophy, and also included a session which introduced the ideas, concepts and practices of restoration ecology relative to high altitude revegetation. The papers included in this proceedings are presented in the same order as they were given at the conference. In cases where final papers were not submitted, abstracts have been included. If you would like additional information about any of the papers, we encourage you to contact the authors. We would like to thank all the speakers for participating in the conference. The time and effort they expend determine the value and success of our conferences. Editors iii HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION COMMITTEE Patricia Andreas Homestake Mining Company Salida, CO Craig Axtell Rocky Mountain National Park Estes Park, CO Mike Barker Exxon, USA Anchorage, AK Richard L. Brammer UNOCAL Corporation Parachute, CO Larry F. Brown L.F. Brown & Associates, Inc. Idaho springs, Co Ray W. Brown USDA Forest Service, Forestry Logan, UT Sciences Lab David R. Chenoweth Western States Reclamation Inc. Broomfield, CO Rob Clark Aspen Ski Company, Snowmass Aspen, CO Ski Area Tom Colbert IMS Inc. Denver, CO Robin L. Cuany Department of Agronomy Fort Collins, CO Colorado State University Ms. Julie Etra South Lake Tahoe, CA Wendell G. Hassell USDA Soil Con. Service Lakewood, CO Don Hijar Garrison Seed Company Greeley, CO Bruce Humphries Colorado Mined Land Denver, CO Reclamation Division Charles L. Jackson Amax Mineral Resources Company Golden, CO Deborah Keammerer Stoeker-Keammerer & Associates Boulder, CO Warren R. Keammerer Stoeker-Keammerer & As~ociates Boulder, CO John A. Lawson Wharf Resources Deadwood, SD Carl Mackey MK-Environmental Services Denver, CO J. Kent McAdoo Freeport-McMoran Gold Company Elko, NV Camille Meyer Colorado Mined Land, Denver, CO Reclamation Division Peter G. Moller Environmental Technology, Leadville, CO Colorado Mountain College, Timberline Campus iv HIGH ALTITUDE REVEGETATION COMMITTEE Ben Northcutt Mountain West Environments Steamboat Springs, co Jeffrey L. Pecka Landscape Architect Englewood, CO Mark. A. Schuster Grubb & Ellis Denver, CO Steve J. Spaulding Colorado Forest Service Woodland Park, CO David Stevens Rocky Mountain National Park Estes Park, CO Marc S. Theisen The Tensar corporation Morrow, GA Gary L. Thor Department of Agronomy, Fort Collins, Co Colorado State University Jeffrey Todd Amax Mineral Resources Company Golden, CO Krystyna M. Urbanska Swiss Federal Institute Zurich, switzerland of Technology Ron Zuck Rocky Flats Plant, Rockwell Golden, CO International v TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ••• iii High Altitude Revegetation Committee iv SESSION: GENERAL (Chaired by Deborah B. Keammerer, Keammerer Ecological Consultants, Boulder, Colorado) Keynote Address: The Environment and EPA's Role in the 1990's. James J. Scherer, EPA Regional Administrator, Denver, Colorado Ecological Restoration: What and Why? William R. Jordan III ••• .. .. 1 Large Scale Use of Wild Harvested Local Seed David Mahler • •• •••• 7 Environmental Issues of Small Underground Gold Mining Thomas S. Hendricks •••••••••• 11 SESSION: REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT (Chaired by Thomas A. Colbert, Vice President, IMS, Inc., Denver, Colorado) Historical Perspectives on the Regulation of Mine Wastes Thomas E. Root •••••• ••••••••• •• 15 Legislative Development Affecting the Mining Industry in South Dakota Frederick D. Fox .. ... .. 24 Current Issues in Mining Regulations - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Fred Banta, Mike Long, Bruce Humphries and David Bucknam ..... .. 35 SESSION: WATER QUALITY (Chaired by Peter G. Moller, Professor, Environmental Technology, Colorado Mountain College, Leadville, Colorado) Blue River Reclamation Project Joseph C. Roesser, Jr. .... 54 A Systems Approach to Permanent Drainageway Stabilization on Reclaimed Lands William Agnew and H. Bruce Humphries ••••••• •• 65 vi Development of a Chemical Use Management Plan Grant Burna, Don Kleinfelder, and Ray H. Davis 73 SESSION: TAILING AND MINE WASTE (Chaired by Camille Meyer, Project Manager, Inactive Mine Program, Colorado Division of Mined Land Reclamation, Denver, Colorado) An Overview of Mined Land Reclamation in the Samgre de Cristo Mountains, Fremont County, Colorado, 1977 to Present Kenneth S. Klco ••••••••••••••••• •• 92 Revegetation of Sulphide Tailings in Northeastern Ontario, Canada T. H. Peters . 98 Development and Implementation of Reclamation Practices at Homestake's McLaughlin Mine Phillip C. Barnes •• •••••••••••••• 107 Concurrent Reclamation of Retorted Oil Shale at Unocal's Parachute Creek Shale Oil Project Richard L. Brammer •••••••••••••••• •• 118 SESSION: MICROBIOLOGY (Chaired by Carl Mackey, Senior Environmental Specialist, MK-Environmental Services, Denver, Colorado and Krystyna M. Urbanska, Professor, Geobotanical Institute, ETH, Zurich, Switzerland) Nitrogen Cycling in Disturbed Lands Jean D. Reeder ••••••• ... ... ..... 122 Biohydrometallurgy: Applications in Reclamation Corale L. Brierley •••••••••••• .. .... 138 SESSION: VISUAL/AESTHETICS (Chaired by Jeffrey L. Pecka, Landscape Architect, Englewood, Colorado) Landscape Information System: Visual Resource and Visualization of Change Merlyn J. Paulson ••••••••• .. .. 151 Mission Impossible: The Colorado Mountain Scar Commission Mark A. Heifner ••••••••••••••••• •• 162 SESSION: RECLAMATION (Chaired by John A. Lawson, Environmental Coordinator, Wharf Resources, Inc., Deadwood, South Dakota) The Snowy Range Road: A High Altitude, High Visibility, Reconstruction Project Stephen E. Williams and Christophor C. Marvel •• 173 vii Reclamation of Exploration Roads and Mine-Sites in Northern Nevada J. Kent McAdoo and Gary A. Acordagoitia ••• 204 Reclamation of an Open Pit/Heap Leach Operation in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota •• .... 214 SESSION: POSTER PAPERS In Vitro Multiplicated Poa alpina (alpine bluegrass) as Seed Source for High Altitude Revegetation Marie Paule Bussery and Francoise Dinger ••••• 227 Native Legumes of the Swiss Alps in High Altitude Revegetation Research Remo Flueler and Andreas Hasler •••••• . .... 228 Plant Materials - New Releases Wendel G. Hassel and Sam E. Stranathan •••••• 229 Seed· Dormancy in Native Alpine Plants and Importance of the Seed Pretreatment to High Altitude Revegetation Martin Schuetz ••••••••••••••••• 233 Single-Ramet-Cloning (SRC) and Multi-Ramet-Cloning (MRC): An Example of Basic and Applied Revegetation Research Floris R. Tschurr •••••••••••••••••• 234 Revegetation of Overgrazed Alpine and Subalpine Areas in South Tyrol/Italy Yhomas Wilhalm •• . .. 238 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS •• 242 viii 1 Ecological Restoration: What and Why? William R. Jordan III I have two jobs here. One is to introduce the notion of ecological restoration into your ongoing discussion of land reclamation at high altitudes and to offer some ideas about what restoration is, how it is to be defined, and how it relates to other similar activities--such