2014-10-07_PERMIT FILE - C1981018A ‎(2)‎

• Permit No: C1981018A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 10/7/2014
• Section_Exhibit Name: Section V. Mine Surface Facilities Reclamation Plan
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

• The former materials are much more expensive than the traditional hydromulch thus their use would
be limited. Wood fiber mulch with tackifier may be used at a rate of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds per acre
with 1,500 pounds being typical.
Natural mulching materials used include hay, straw, and stubble mulches. Hay and straw are
typically applied on severe sites that are steep or overlie shallow soils that would not support a
nurse or stubble mulch crop. These materials are applied by spreading at the rate of 1.0 to 2.0
tons per acre. The straw or hay mulch will be free from noxious weed seed. Certified weed free
straw or hay mulches will be used if commercially available.
Stubble mulch can be used as a means to control erosion and seedbed stabilization when the site
is prepared long before optimum perennial planting dates. This process involves growing quick-
developing annual grasses to produce mulch in place. Oats or barley may be seeded in the
spring to early summer. Winter wheat may be seeded in the late summer to early fall. Regreen
can be seeded during either of these periods. When seeded for establishment prior to perennial
species 15 pounds per acre drill seeded or 30 pounds per acre broadcast seeded is appropriate
for these species.
Volunteer reseeding of the mulch crop can be a concern under higher precipitation zones. Under
the xeric precipitation regime at the Deserado Mine competition from reseeding should not be an
• issue. As an additional precaution, winter annuals would be used if seeding occurs in the late
spring and spring annuals if seeding occurs in the summer. If regreen is used volunteer
reseeding is not a concern since it is a sterile hybrid between wheat and tall wheatgrass.
The requirement for mulching will be based on slope steepness, slope length, and other
mitigating measures used to control excess erosion. A drill site 2000 lbs. of straw mulch at a
3H:1V slope is used as the threshold model for requiring mulch. This site would have a RUSLE
LS of about 5.87 and a C of 0.24 with a resulting correction factor of 1.41 assuming a 100-foot
slope length. To maintain a correction factor of 1.4 or less the slope would have to be <10% on a
100-foot slope without extensive surface roughening or mulch. Mulching will not be required if the
LS x C x P correction factor is maintained <1.41. Various other management practices can be
used to achieve this correction factor such as terracing or taking rock into account.
V.1.4,d Seedbed Preparation. Seedbed preparation is accomplished in a manner that provides a
micro-environment favoring the establishment of emerging plants while enhancing surface retention
of precipitation. Extensive roughening of the seedbed provides micro-sites for plant establishment.
Maximum development of micro-sites is especially favorable to the establishment of shrub species
included in seed mixes. Roughening along contours also effectively limits erosional losses of
topsoil by wind and water.
In non-compacted soils, seedbed roughening is accomplished with the use of a harrow or offset
disk. In compacted subsoils a ripper tooth or chisel plow is used to rip the surface soil material.
• Furrows are made perpendicular or tangential to the angle of slope. Furrowing is accomplished in
Permit Rev. #4 (11/2002) V-38