The overall purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. During the reporting period (October-December 2004) we completed the validation of a forest productivity classification model for mined land. A coefficient of determination (R{sup 2}) of 0.68 confirms the model's ability to predict SI based on a selection of mine soil properties. To determine carbon sequestration under different forest management scenarios, a field study was installed as a 3 x 3 factorial in a random complete block design with three replications at each of three locations, Ohio (Figure 1), West Virginia (Figure 2), and Virginia (Figure 3). The treatments included three forest types (white pine, hybrid poplar, mixed hardwood) and three silvicultural regimes (competition control, competition control plus tillage, competition control plus tillage plus fertilization). For hybrid poplar, total plant biomass differences increased significantly with the intensity of silvicultural input. Root, stem, and foliage biomass also increased with the level of silvicultural intensity. Financial feasibility analyses of reforestation on mined lands previously reclaimed to grassland have been completed for conversion to white …

This is the first quarterly Technical Report for the period October-December, 2003. A kick-off meeting was held with NETL administrators and scientists at Morgantown, WV, on December 2, 2002. The purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological and economic feasibility of restoring high-quality forests on mined land, and to measure carbon sequestration and wood production benefits that would be achieved from forest restoration procedures. During this first quarterly reporting period, five Graduate Research Assistants were recruited, an MOA was drafted between Virginia Tech and three industry cooperators, preliminary field locations for controlled studies were located, and a preliminary analysis of a carbon inventory of forest sites on mined land was made.