(a) When the approved postdisposal land use
is cropland or as provided in subsection (c), the following apply:
(1) The standards for successful revegetation
shall be based upon crop productivity or yield.
(2) The approved standard shall be the
average yields per acre for the crop and soil type as specified in the soil
surveys of the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
(3) The
productivity or yield of the disposal area shall be equal to or greater than
the approved standard for the last two consecutive growing seasons of the
5-year responsibility period established in this section. Productivity or yield
shall be considered equal if production or yield is at least 90% of the
approved standard.
(b)
When the approved postdisposal land use is other than cropland, the following
apply:
(1) The standards for successful
revegetation shall be determined by ground cover.
(2) The approved standard shall be the
percent ground cover of the vegetation which exists on the proposed area to be
affected by coal refuse disposal activities. The Department will not approve
less than a minimum of 70% ground cover of permanent plant species with not
more than 1.0% of the area having less than 30% ground cover with no single or
contiguous area having less than 30% ground cover exceeding 3,000 square feet.
When woody species are planted in mixture with herbaceous species, the
standards in this subsection shall be met and a minimum of 400 woody plants per
acre shall be established, except:
(i) On
slopes greater than 20 degrees, the minimum number of woody plants shall be 600
per acre.
(ii) When the approved
postdisposal land use is commercial forest land, the minimum number of woody
plants shall be 450 trees per acre with at least 75% commercial tree
species.
(iii) When the approved
postdisposal land use is wildlife habitat, the requirements of §
90.155 (relating to revegetation:
species) apply and the areas approved for the planting of woody species shall
have a stocking equal to or greater than 90% of the stocking of woody plants of
the same life form on the proposed area to be affected by coal refuse disposal
activities. The Department will not approve stocking of less than 400 woody
plants per acre.
(3) The
following shall apply for purposes of measuring the stocking standards for
woody species:
(i) Root crown or root sprouts
over 1 foot in height shall count as one toward meeting the stocking
requirements. When multiple stems occur, only the tallest stem shall be
counted.
(ii) A tree or shrub shall
count as one toward meeting the stocking requirements if the tree or shrub has
been in place at least two growing seasons and is alive and healthy with at
least 1/3 of its length in live crown.
(4) The percent ground cover of the permit
area shall meet the standards of paragraph (2) for a minimum of the last 2
consecutive years of the 5-year period of responsibility, and the 5-year period
of responsibility shall commence after the last year of augmented seeding and
fertilizing.
(5) For purposes of
this section, herbaceous species means grasses, legumes, and nonleguminous
forbs; woody plants means woody shrubs, trees, and vines; and ground cover
means the area of ground covered by the combined aerial parts of the vegetation
and the litter that is produced naturally onsite, expressed as a percentage of
the total area of measurement.
(c) When the approved postdisposal land use
is pastureland, the crop productivity standards of subsection (a) and the
ground cover standards of subsection (b) shall be met.
Notes
The
provisions of this § 90.159 adopted December 19, 1980, 10 Pa.B. 4789,
effective 7/31/1982, 12 Pa.B.
2382; amended July 30, 1982, 12 Pa.B. 2473, effective
7/31/1982, 12 Pa.B. 2382;
amended June 25, 1993, effective 6/26/1993, 23 Pa.B. 3075; amended March 13,
2020, effective 3/14/2020, 50
Pa.B. 1508.
The provisions of this § 90.159 amended under
section 5 of The Clean Streams Law (35 P.S. §
691.5); sections 4(a) and 4.2 of the Surface
Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act (52 P.S.
§§
1396.4(a) and
1396.4b); section 3.2 of the
Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act (52 P.S. §
30.53b); section 7(b) of The Bituminous Mine
Subsidence and Land Conservation Act (52 P.S. §
1406.7(b)); and section
1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. §
510-20).
This section cited in 25 Pa. Code §
86.172 (relating to criteria for
release of bond); 25 Pa. Code §
90.17 (relating to vegetation
information); 25 Pa. Code §
90.33 (relating to reclamation
plan); 25 Pa. Code §
90.100 (relating to nutrients and
soil amendments); 25 Pa. Code §
90.105 (relating to stream channel
diversions); 25 Pa. Code §
90.108 (relating to hydrologic
balance: sedimentation ponds); 25 Pa. Code §
90.122 (relating to coal refuse
disposal); 25 Pa. Code §
90.125 (relating to coal refuse
disposal: construction requirements); 25 Pa. Code §
90.150 (relating to protection of
fish, wildlife and related environmental values); 25 Pa. Code §
90.155 (relating to revegetation:
species); 25 Pa. Code §
90.157 (relating to revegetation:
mulching); 25 Pa. Code §
90.160 (relating to revegetation:
techniques and frequency of measurement); 25 Pa. Code §
90.165 (relating to prime
farmland: revegetation); and 25 Pa. Code §
90.305 (relating to application
approval or denial).
