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Colorado permanent program. All coal extraction in this area was completed prior to August <br />3, 1977 (SMCRA). As such, three pre - permanent program laws apply: the Colorado Open <br />Cut Land Reclamation Act of 1969, the Colorado Open Mining Reclamation Act of 1973, <br />and the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act of 1976. <br />Specific quantitative reclamation standards are not required for the pre -law Old Wolf Creek <br />Pit. The SL -02 application provided a comparison of the reclaimed pre -law lands using an <br />acreage weighted approach to two reference areas. This approach is similar to reclamation <br />success comparisons that PSCM utilizes in evaluating reclamation success for Interim Law <br />and Permanent Program reclamation. <br />PSCM collected twelve cover transects within the area of the Old Wolf Creek Pit, also <br />known as Bond Release Block No. 1 (BRB 1). Sample adequacy was not achieved. The <br />minimum number of transects to achieve sample adequacy for this data was calculated as 56 <br />transects. <br />The Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance for Seneca II Bond Release SL -02, the <br />final bond release of 259.1 pre -law acres originally associated with the Seneca II Mine <br />(C1980 -005), was approved November 29, 2007 and provided a thorough explanation of the <br />appropriate reclamation success criteria applicable on the remaining 68.79 pre -law acres <br />associated with the PSCM SL -02 application. <br />PSCM utilized an acreage weighted approach and sampled the approved Sagebrush <br />Reference Area and the approved Mountain Brush Reference Area. First -hit herbaceous <br />cover was used as the basis for reclamation success. Woody plant cover and noxious weed <br />cover was also removed from the reclaimed area and reference area data prior to comparison. <br />This approach is consistent with the approach Seneca Coal Company utilized for the SL -02 <br />determination of reclamation success on 259.1 acres of Seneca II Mine. <br />For acreage weighted ratios, PSCM had previously determined that the mountain shrub <br />community comprised 83% and the Sagebrush community contributed 17% of the pre - <br />mining vegetative communities. First hit adjusted (wood stem and noxious species cover <br />removed) values were multiplied by a factor of two and then factored by the applicable <br />weighted percentage. PSCM demonstrated that the first hit herbaceous cover measured on <br />the reclaimed Old Wolf Creek Pit pre -law area (BRB 1) was 24.8 %. Ninety percent of the <br />acreage weighted first hit cover value for the mountain shrub and sagebrush reference areas <br />was 24.6 %. The Division finds the herbaceous cover on the reclaimed area is successful and <br />meets a standard of 90% of the acreage weighted reference area herbaceous cover value. <br />PSCM provided a measure of species diversity on the reclaimed area comprised of the mean <br />number of species per 100 M2. This value is determined from the cover transects. PSCM <br />calculated an average of 10.6 vegetative species per 100 M2 with a standard deviation of 4.8. <br />Three species, Intermediate wheatgrass, Alfalfa, and Smooth Brome, comprised 82% of the <br />relative cover (r.c.) (35.47% r.c., 25.69% r.c., and 20.8% r.c. respectively). Four additional <br />vegetative species, Big Sagebrush (3.67% r.c.), Rubber Rabbitbrush (3.06% r.c.), Thickspike <br />Peabody Sage Creek Mine Page 10 January 30, 2014 <br />Full Bond Release <br />