2008-05-01_REVISION - M1973007SG (5)

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RECLAMATION PLAN Revegetation The revegetation of sandy soils can be a difficult process. As stated in the previous section, the use of a sandy soil with good organic matter content(generally soils that were present on the site prior to mining), will produce good revegetation results with little additional effort. Even with good soil though, thorough revegetation can take one to three years longer than would normally be expected. With poor quality sandy soils, the failure rate of revegetation, without the addition of organic matter to the soil, is high to very high. Sand holds very little available water and often plants begin to grow and then die from a lack of moisture. But even one or two percent organic matter in a sandy soil can dramatically increase the water holding capacity as well as aid nutrient flow pathways to dramatically increase the success rate. Failures are still higher than in loam or silty loam soils, but with good sandy soil success is more likely than failure. Poor sandy soils may require several attempts at revegetation before success occurs. Changes in the seed mixtures included in the existing permit are needed. The existing seed mixtures were developed in 1992 and a lot has changed since then. Of particular importance is the fact that yellow sweet clover is now discouraged in revegetation mixtures and should only be planted in very special situations. Although this species does well in sandy soils, due to its deep tap root, it also tends to be invasive and is therefore usually considered a weed. The existing seed mixtures are therefore changed to the following. Daniels Sand Pit#2 - Pit Bottom Mix- 2008 Modification of 1992 mix Species Pounds Pure Live Seed/Acre Thickspike Wheatgrass 1.0 Sand Bluestein 4.0 Big Bluestein 4.0 Switchgrass 2.0 Sand Lovegrass 0.5 Pubescent Wheatgrass 2.0 Tall Wheatgrass 3.0 Blue Grama 0.5 TOTAL PLS/ACRE = 17.0 Daniels Sand Pit Amendment (2008) Exhibit E Page 16 of 22