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Revegetation Assessment <br /> Guanella Reservoir <br /> Clear Creek County, Colorado <br /> March 23, 2018 <br /> Background <br /> The City of Golden (Golden) operates the Guanella Reservoir(reservoir)constructed within the Empire <br /> Pit, near the town of Empire, in Clear Creek County,Colorado. The reservoir is currently operating <br /> under the Empire Pit, 112 Operation Reclamation Permit No. M-1977-534 (permit). This permit <br /> encompasses both the reservoir and the area east of the reservoir(Phase II),and the permit calls for <br /> grading Phase II to the approximate original contours and revegetating with the seed mix included in the <br /> permit. The grading and seeding of Phase II was completed in 2013. In 2017, Golden requested that the <br /> Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety(DRMS) permit be released from further reclamation <br /> responsibility. The DRMS inspected the site on September 1, 2017 in response to this request. Based on <br /> this inspection, DRMS issued an inspection report that identified areas of deficiencies occurring on the <br /> eastern edge of Phase II (September 2017 inspection report)that currently lack vegetation. The areas <br /> DRMS identified are shown in orange on Figure 1 (project area). As stated in the September 2017 <br /> inspection report,the operator must revise the reclamation plan to address the establishment of <br /> vegetation within the project area. To comply with the revegetation request, Golden requested a <br /> Technical Revision (TR03,January 23, 2018)for this permit to remedy these deficiencies. On February <br /> 14, 2018, DRMS submitted an adequacy review(#1) commenting on details of the revised plan. To <br /> respond to these comments, Golden contracted with ERO Resources Corporation (ERO)to provide <br /> technical responses to the questions raised in the adequacy review and recommend revisions to the <br /> revegetation plan for the project area proposed in TR03. <br /> Site Description <br /> Phase II, including the project area, occurs on an upper terrace of the Clear Creek valley west of the <br /> town of Empire at an elevation of approximately 8,500 feet. Historically, Phase II was mined for gravel. <br /> After the reservoir was constructed,gravel from the reservoir site was stored at Phase II. Additionally, <br /> the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)stockpiled salt approximately where the project <br /> area is located, based on a 1985 DRMS inspection report (Baumberg, 2018)and aerial photographs. In <br /> 2013, Phase II was graded, approximately 6 inches of topsoil were added,and the seed mix in Table 1 <br /> ERO Project#7158 1 <br />