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September 6, 2023 C-1981-038/Bowie No. 1 Mine RDZ <br /> <br /> <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 2 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 1 <br /> <br /> Page 4 of 5 <br /> <br /> <br />All of these pads are located in or near the area under consideration for SL-09. An adequacy item for the SL-09 <br />application asks that BRL clarify which ones should be included in the area under consideration with this bond <br />release application. The site for B-5 appears to be in undisturbed vegetation. <br /> <br />At all pads, no erosion problems were identified. The vegetation was generally in good shape. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />REVEGETATION – Rule 4.15 <br />Vegetative Cover; Timing: <br />OBSERVATIONS SPECIFIC TO THE SL-09 APPLICATION <br /> <br />Throughout the proposed bond release area, the vegetation looked very good. The SL-09 bond release request <br />claimed there was 50.63% cover in 2022 and 54.17% cover in 2023. A visual estimate of the vegetation cover was <br />conducted and it appears the data is consistent with the ground conditions. <br />The predominant species listed in the vegetation report of the bond release application includes thickspike <br />wheatgrass, western wheatgrass, alfalfa, and cicer milkvetch. All these species were seen on the ground in <br />abundance, along with other desirable species such as fourwing saltbrush, bitterbrush and Woods’ rose. <br />Based on the observations of the reclaimed area, the Division believes that the vegetation data submitted with the <br />SL-09 bond release request is consistent with the ground conditions. The vegetation appears to be self-sustaining <br />based on the presence of emerging young plants, abundance of seed heads on grasses and flowers on shrubs. <br /> <br />A very small patch of whitetop was seen along the access road. The identity of the plant was a little uncertain <br />because it is unusually late in the summer for whitetop to be flowering. Nonetheless, Basil Bear treated the plants <br />the day after the inspection. <br /> <br /> <br />OTHER OBSERVATIONS <br /> <br />Other than the aforementioned white top, only very small numbers of weeds were seen at the site. <br /> <br />At the West Mine, no yellow starthistle was seen. Dead thistle near the West Mine ponds suggests that BRL has <br />been spraying weeds. <br /> <br />At the coal storage area by the highway and Black Bridge Road, much of the area contains cheat grass. Large <br />amounts of cheat grass were also seen at the loadout. <br /> <br />