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RULE 4 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS <br /> 4.15 Revegetation Requirements <br /> 4.15.1 General Requirements <br /> Colowyo will establish on all affected land within the mine plan area a diverse, effective and permanent <br /> vegetative cover of the same seasonal variety as that native to the area. On lands revegetated prior to <br /> 2008 the vegetative cover will be comprised of native and introduced species that are desirable and <br /> necessary to achieve the approved postmining land use as required under Section 4.15.2. The original <br /> seed mixture to be planted is shown in Section 2.05 on Table 7, Reclamation Seed Mixture. On lands <br /> revegetated in 2008 and thereafter, the vegetative cover will be comprised of native species that are <br /> desirable and necessary to achieve the approved postmining land uses as required under Section 4.15.2 <br /> (with modest exceptions). (Several interim seed mixture modifications have been adopted over the years, <br /> the most recent of which is a primarily native mix- see MR-59 dated 9/10/02). However, in response to <br /> Stipulation # 8 for PR-02, additional seed mixtures, revegetation metrics, and bond release protocols <br /> designed to target specific post-mining land use components are presented within the context of this <br /> section(4.15)as well as the reclamation plan, Section 2.05. <br /> Remaining discussions under this section (4.15) will refer to "pre-2008"versus "post-2008" revegetation <br /> plans, efforts, specifications, and bond release protocols. Pre-2008 refers to revegetation activities <br /> performed prior to April, 2008). Post-2008 refers to revegetation activities occurring during or after <br /> April,2008. <br /> The details of the revegetation plan are discussed in Section 2.05.4. <br /> 4.15.1(4)Vegetation Monitoring <br /> The monitoring plan to evaluate the success of shrub conducive efforts including direct seeding of <br /> sagebrush,natural reinvasion by sagebrush,as well as herbaceous vegetation success is as follows: ' <br /> 1. To facilitate identification, sampling of herbaceous vegetation will take place during the peak of <br /> the growing season when the vegetation reaches the mature stages. This period of time is <br /> generally from late June to late August. <br /> 2. Unlike sampling for bond release purposes, sampling will not be required to meet statistical <br /> adequacy. <br /> 3. During the first growing season of a reseeded area,a visual determination of seeded and volunteer <br /> species will be performed. From-this information, any apparent revegetation issues will be <br /> determined for the seeded species, and unsatisfactory stands of any component can be identified <br /> for corrective action. In addition to this visual evaluation, a semi-quantitative procedure will be <br /> implemented to evaluate seedling emergence. This procedure involves unbiased placement of <br /> several small quadrat frames at multiple locations across the reclaimed unit and counting the <br /> number of emergent plants by life form within each quadrat. Conversion to the number of <br /> emergents per square foot facilitates an assessment of the eventual success of the seeding effort. <br /> During the second and fourth growing season of a reseeded area, herbaceous cover and woody <br /> plant density information will be gathered. This information will be gathered at the species level <br /> and will reflect the effectiveness of the seed mixture and volunteer species. Colowyo will also <br /> monitor areas seven years old and every third year thereafter (year 10, 13, etc.) to assess their <br /> status toward approaching the maturity necessary for bond release testing. Seven year and older <br /> monitoring will also utilize ground cover and density sampling, but will include a modest current <br /> Rule 4 Performance Standards 4.15-1 Revision Date: 11/14/16 <br /> Revision No.:MR-163 <br />