Effects of Disturbance and Reclamation after Natural Gas Extraction in High Desert Basins.

Development activities on saline soils of the cold high desert region exacerbate existing limitations to ecosystem productivity, including low organic matter content, salinity, sodicity, and weak soil structure. Standard practices of salvaging, stockpiling, and respreading topsoils lead to degraded conditions in which restoration of ecosystem functions is very difficult. Research in the Great Divide and Green River Basins of southwestern Wyoming indicates that soil organic matter contents, which are often one percent or less before disturbance, are typically reduced by half, while sality and sodicity increase substantially in surface soils following reclamation. Soil becomes more cloddy and surface crusts increase as well. Several chemical amendments show promise for improving conditions for germination, especially when combined with compost. Results suggest that improved site selection, soil segregation, and precise depth control during salvage, along with chemical and organic amendments to remediate unavoidable degradation, would substantially improve the success of reclamation efforts in this region.