Many surface mined lands in the eastern United States were forested prior to mining. The natural reclamation goal of most of these areas would be to reestablish the forests. However, research conducted by the University of Kentucky and by others has shown that reestablishing forests at surface mines reclaimed since the enactment of PL95-87 has been very difficult (Graves et al., 1995). This has lead to the belief that the grading practices used in the implementation of PL95-87 may cause compaction of the soil material replaced during reclamation. Such compaction may be to the point where tree roots may be unable to penetrate the soil for proper growth and development (Graves et al., 1995). This results in a high mortality rate for trees planted during reclamation and, thus, prevents the development of forests with high-value tree species (i.e., a renewable resource) on the reclaimed land.
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