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The Division scheduled and conducted a bond release inspection on July 20,2022. The site inspection <br /> was conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). Attendees included: <br /> • Basil Bear, BRL <br /> • Ryan Wilson, Wolverine Fuels(parent company of BRL) <br /> • Tom Medlin, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSM) <br /> • Rob Zuber and Brock Bowles of the Division. <br /> During the bond release inspection,two issues were identified: <br /> • A-list species are the most concerning weeds in Colorado per the Colorado Weed <br /> Management Association. One of these species,yellow starthistle, was seen near the north <br /> end of the West Mine during the inspection. This species has been seen at the West Mine in <br /> the past(noted in Division inspection reports in 2008), and BRL has worked with Delta <br /> County and BLM to eradicate it in the area. <br /> • Several thistle plants were seen around the West Mine. Basil Bear committed to having his <br /> staff spray these weeds in the near future. <br /> During subsequent inspections,the Division confirmed through visual observations that spraying of thistle <br /> had been done. Also,communications with Mr. Bear indicated that he performed this spraying. <br /> The Division's adequacy review(dated September 13,2022)noted four items to be addressed: <br /> • Two of the items are related to vegetation measurements and statistics, <br /> • One small item was related to the names of the ponds at the site shown on maps (as noted above, <br /> the ponds are not included in the SL-08 area). <br /> • The fourth adequacy item is related to the presence of yellow starthistle. The Division requested <br /> that an area around the location where this weed was found(a 100-foot buffer was recommended) <br /> be removed ("carved out") from the application for release. Related to the change of area, the <br /> analysis performed to determine revegetation success may need to be updated. <br /> All of the adequacy items were addressed in a response from Stover&Associates,Inc. (dated October <br /> 19,2022). The two items related to vegetation measurements and statistics are discussed in the <br /> Observations and Findings section of this report. The pond names were corrected on the maps. An area <br /> was carved out of the release area to account for yellow starthistle; this area is a circular area with a 100- <br /> foot radius, and vegetation transects related to this area were removed from the dataset for the statistical <br /> analysis. <br /> Pennit Number C-1981-038 Page 5 of 12 <br />