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INTRODUCTION <br />Quantitative sampling of reclaimed areas at Seneca Coal Company's (SCC) Seneca IIW Mine was <br />undertaken in July 2013 by Chenoweth & Associates in cooperation with ESCO Associates to facilitate <br />SCC's continued monitoring of the progress of these areas in relation to revegetation performance <br />standards. Methods, sample areas, and sample sizes were those specified by SCC. <br />METHODS <br />Reclamation Units and Sampling Locations <br />The reclamation units sampled for purposes of interim monitoring at the Seneca IIW Mine in 2013 are <br />shown on Map 1, "2013 Interim Monitoring Locations ". For purposes of interim monitoring as dictated by <br />permit conditions, areas seeded in 2006 and 2011 (two- and seven- year old areas) were sampled in <br />2013. <br />Extended Reference Area Sampling <br />The Aspen, Mountain Brush, and Sagebrush /Snowberry Extended Reference Areas were sampled to <br />provide data for comparison with reclaimed area data. Reference Area sampling locations are shown on <br />Map 1, "2013 Interim Monitoring Locations ". <br />Cover Sampling <br />Cover data were collected along 50 m transects using a point- intercept method in which data were <br />recorded as interceptions of a point with plant species, litter, standing dead plant material, soil, or rock. <br />Litter was considered to be any organic material that had fallen, or had begun to fall to the soil surface. <br />Standing dead was any dead plant material that was produced in previous years but which was still <br />standing and had not lodged or broken off to become litter. Inorganic materials greater than 1 cm in <br />diameter were considered rock. The cover sampling points were optically projected using a Cover -Point <br />Optical Point Projection Device developed by ESCO Associates. The 50 m transects were randomly <br />located and oriented in the reclaimed areas, and semi - permanent transects were used in the reference <br />areas. One hundred points were collected along each transect. At each meter along the 50 m length, <br />points were projected 0.5 m to the right and 0.5 m to the left of the transect, to minimize the trampling <br />effect. <br />First hit interceptions were used to calculate absolute top layer foliar cover (see FIRST HIT AVERAGE <br />COVER column in data tables) by dividing the number of interceptions for a particular species, or ground <br />cover type by the total number of points taken (100). First hit relative vegetation cover was calculated by <br />dividing first hit absolute cover for each species by the total first hit vegetation cover (see FIRST HIT <br />RELATIVE VEGETATION COVER). All -layer absolute cover (ALL HIT AVERAGE COVER column in <br />data tables) was calculated by dividing all hits (first -hits and additional -hits) for a particular species by the <br />total number of points taken (100). In addition, all -layer relative cover was calculated using all hits for a <br />