Reclamation with trees pre- and post-SMCRA in Southern Illinois

I compare survival and heights of trees of similar ages planted pre-law on sites ungraded or dragline-leveled, and post-law on. sites ungraded or bulldozer-graded or graded with topsoil replaced by pan scrapers. Relative heights at age 10 of trees of five species (silver maple [Acer sacckmmum L.], white ash [Fraxminus americana L.], black walnut [Juglans nigra L.], sweetgom [Liquidambar styraciflua L.], and tuliptree [Liriodendron tulipifera L.] planted on ungraded cast overbwden pre-law in 1947 and postdaw in 1981 and 1982 were similar within species and varied among species. For the trees planted post-law, heights and growth rates in the preceding five years of all species were greater on cast overburden whether ungraded or graded than on replaced topsoil. Grading, and topsoil replacement, adversely affected survival of two species. A typical rooting medium pre-law was deep and well-drained with fresh minerals from coarse fragments in a mixed cast overburden. Relatively poor tree performance on post-law sites has been attributed to replacement of segregated fine-textured, poorly-drained surface soils (termed topsoil by regulatory agencies).