Laserfiche WebLink
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 <br />permanent vegetative cover of the same seasonal variety as that native to the area. On lands <br />revegetated prior to 2008 the vegetative cover will be comprised of native and introduced species <br />that are desirable and necessary to achieve the approved postmining land use as required under <br />Section 4.15.2. The original seed mixture to be planted is shown in Section 2.05 on Table 7, <br />Reclamation Seed Mixture. On lands revegetated in 2008 and thereafter, the vegetative cover will <br />be comprised of native species that are desirable and necessary to achieve the approved postmining <br />land uses as required under Section 4.15.2 (with modest exceptions). However, additional seed <br />mixtures, revegetation metrics, and bond release protocols designed to target specific post -mining <br />land use components are presented within the context of this section (4.15) as well as the <br />reclamation plan, Section 2.05. <br />Remaining discussions under this section (4.15) will refer to "pre -2008" versus "post -2008" <br />revegetation plans, efforts, specifications, and bond release protocols. Pre -2008 refers to <br />revegetation activities performed prior to April, 2008). Post -2008 refers to revegetation activities <br />occurring during or after 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 <br />peak of the growing season when the vegetation reaches the mature stages. This period of <br />time is 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 <br />volunteer species will be performed. From -this information, any apparent revegetation <br />issues will be determined for the seeded species, and unsatisfactory stands of any <br />component can be identified for corrective action. In addition to this visual evaluation, a <br />semi -quantitative procedure will be implemented to evaluate seedling emergence. This <br />procedure involves unbiased placement of several small quadrat frames at multiple <br />locations across the reclaimed unit and counting the number of emergent plants by life form <br />within each quadrat. Conversion to the number of emergents per square foot facilitates an <br />assessment of the eventual success of the seeding effort. <br />Rule 4 Performance Standards 4-46 Revision Date: 5/25/18 <br />Revision No.: RN -07 <br />