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irrigated pasture (see letter dated Sept 14, 2016 in Appendix B). Therefore the haul road area across his <br />land is not included in the SL -19 application. <br />The total requested acres for Phase II bond release is 23.7 acres. <br />PHASE III <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(c) states that the final portion of performance bond, "shall be released when the permittee <br />has successfully completed all surface coal mining reclamation operations in accordance with this <br />approved reclamation plan, and the final inspection procedures of 3.03.2 have been satisfied. This shall <br />not be before the expiration of the period specified for revegetation responsibility in 3.02.3." Rule <br />3.03.1(4) states, "No bond shall be fully released until all reclamation requirements of these Rules and the <br />Act are fully met...". The same rule goes on to state, "No acreage shall be released from the permit area <br />until all surface coal mining and reclamation operations on that acreage have been completed in <br />accordance with the approved reclamation plan." <br />Irrigated Pasture <br />Cover and production data were collected during the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons for the bond release <br />and reference areas. Sample adequacy was achieved for cover in both the bond release and reference areas <br />for 2014 and 2015. Sample adequacy was achieved for production in the bond release and reference areas <br />2015. Sample adequacy was not achieved for the 2014 production on both the bond release block and <br />reference area. As authorized by Rule 4.15.11(2)(c), production success for 2014 was demonstrated using <br />the reverse null hypothesis. <br />The perennial plant cover was 88.6% in 2014 and 89.5% in 2015. Both years exceeded the reference area <br />standard of 63.9% and 80.55% for each year, respectively. The production results were 3619.8 lbs/ac for <br />2014 and 2030.4 lbs/ac for 2015. Both years exceeded the reference area standard of 1987.9 lbs/ac and <br />1426.3 lbs/ac for each year, respectively. The complete dataset and calculations for irrigated pasture are <br />in Appendix B of the application. <br />The quality standard outlined in the permit is a diversity standard. The purpose of this standard is to ensure <br />that the majority of the vegetation contains agriculturally desirable species. Production data is the <br />measurement for the quality standard but, `undesirable' species were not sampled for production in 2014. <br />It is therefore not possible to determine the relative production of quality forage without the undesirable <br />species included in the dataset. As an alternative, the cover dataset for both 2014 and 2015 contains all <br />species (including undesirables) and can be used to calculate the quality forage standard. <br />The 2015 dataset can be used to demonstrate the calculated difference between relative production and <br />relative cover data, as it pertains to the quality standard, because it contains both production and cover <br />data for all species. The relative production of desirable species was 98.7% and the relative cover was <br />99.1 %. The difference between the production data and cover data is 0.4%. Therefore, the Division has <br />determined that the cover data is an adequate substitute for production data for the quality forage standard. <br />The quality standard, as stated in the permit, is at least 75% of the relative production (cover) will be <br />comprised of seeded species or species of comparable quality as livestock forage. In 2014, the relative <br />New Horizon Mine SL -19 <br />Page 6 <br />