VEGETATION AND SUBSTRATE CHARACTERISTICS OF ABANDONED OIL AND GAS WELL PADS IN NORTHEASTERN UTAH

We are undertaking a 5-year study of vegetation and substrate characteristics surrounding abandoned oil and gas well pads in the Uintah Basin of Northeastern Utah with the goal of improving the rates of rangeland recovery around these sites. Our primary objective will be to provide Bureau of Land Management (BLM) biologists and land managers with data that will aid future decision-making by enhancing the understanding of the vegetation and substrate characteristics associated with abandoned oil and gas well pads. The stated goals of the BLM for rangeland reclamation are “to return the land to a safe, stable, and proper functioning condition through establishing a desired self-perpetuating community of desired plants.” Under the terms of their leases, companies that operate on BLM lands have 5 years to attain 75% basal cover comprised of species found in the undisturbed native vegetation community on adjacent plots of land, or they cannot be released from their obligations to pay. Our research will occur exclusively on BLM lands located south of the Pariette wetlands in the Myton Bench area west of the Green River. Within this region, there are numerous disturbed rangeland plots on active and abandoned well pads and pipelines that will serve as test plots for different treatments for restoration techniques. Our approach will be to assemble a database of vegetation and substrate characteristics from approximately 200 abandoned oil and gas well pads that were producing oil and natural gas, and were subsequently abandoned between 1929 and 2008. Our database will include measurements of the frequency of occurrence and basal cover of vegetation, the texture, structure, porosity, root content, and ox/redox characteristics of the substrate within eight feet of the ground surface. We will compare key characteristics on abandoned well pads with those on adjacent undisturbed areas, and plot changes in these characteristics as a function of time since abandonment to determine their combined influence on the rate of rangeland recovery. Ultimately we are planning to use this information to develop a set of experimental treatments for abandoned well pads where recovery has been particularly slow.