2015-02-26_REPORT - C1981028 ‎(7)‎

• Permit No: C1981028
• IBM Index Class Name: Report
• Doc Date: 2/26/2015
• Doc Name: Annual Hydrology and Reclamation Report
• From: Coors Energy Company
• To: DRMS
• Annual Report Year: 2014
• Permit Index Doc Type: Annual Reclamation Report
• Email Name: TNL
• Email Name: DIH
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Keenesburg Mine 2014 Vegetation Monitoring Report
2.6 Photographs
A photograph was be taken at the start point of each cover transect looking along the length of
the transect. These photos are presented in Appendix C.
2.7 Species Identification and Nomenclature
Species that were not known in the field were collected for later identification. Specimens were
identified using floral keys including Weber and Wittmann (200 1) and Wingate (1994).
Nomenclature follows the NRCS Plants Database (2014).
3 RECLAMATION SUCCESS STANDARDS
The Keenesburg Mine Reclamation Permit includes a species composition standard and
predictive equations to determine the success standards for vegetation cover and herbaceous
production. Both the vegetation cover and herbaceous production equations use the previous
year's precipitation (September — July) to predict the success standard for any given year. These
equations are as follows, where x is equal to the cumulative September — July precipitation:
Vegetation Cover Standard = - 0.0127x3 +0.2115x2 +2.1772x
Herbaceous Production Standard = 0.4666x2.1405
To meet the reclamation standard specified in the permit, the average total vegetation cover
value and the total herbaceous production value (excluding noxious weeds) in a Reclamation
Area must be greater than or equal to 90% of the resulting value from the appropriate predictive
equation.
At the time of developing these equations, species listed by the Colorado Department of
Agriculture as noxious weeds were not excluded from the data. In 2012, DRMS approved a
Technical Revision (TR43) to the Keenesburg Mine Reclamation Permit to update the equations
to remove noxious plant species from both the cover and production standards. The vegetation
cover standard was again updated in a Minor Revision (MR46) to the permit.
Species composition is considered an indicator of successful vegetation establishment and a
diverse vegetation community. The species composition standard for the Keenesburg Mine
requires that there be at least four perennial species, of which three are warm season grasses and
one a cool season grass. None of the four species may comprise greater than 40% relative cover
nor less than 3% relative cover. Vegetation species which may be used in the calculation of
species composition may be any plant species not defined as a noxious or prohibited plant
species, and may be native or introduced.
4 2014 PRECIPITATION
The climate of the mine and surrounding area is typical of the region and characterized by cold
winters and hot dry summers. CEC has collected local precipitation data at the mine since 1984;
however, only data from 1993 — 2014 is presented here to correspond with the duration of
vegetation monitoring (Appendix B). Average precipitation is generally lowest during the late
fall and winter (October through March) and peaks in April through June (Figure 3).
The Keenesburg Mine Reclamation Permit specifies the use of onsite precipitation from
September to July in calculating the vegetation cover and herbaceous production standards. Total
cumulative precipitation for the period from September 2013 — July 2014 was 17.46 inches. This
Habitat Management, Inc. 6 September 2014