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This was a partial inspection conducted by Jim Burnell and Sandy Brown of CDMG on Tuesday, July 24, 2001. The inspection was accompanied by Henry Barbe of Mountain Coal Company and concentrated on the several areas of disturbance south of the main minesite. The weather was warm and dry, with a thunderstorm blowing in as the afternoon progressed. The first location visited was the Apache Rocks disturbance. The "front road" from the main minesite was in excellent condition. G-pad was reclaimed this year -seeded, fertilized and mulched. It appeared stable with no erosion. The road to drillholes 2-545 and 2-546 are an exceptional example of good reclamation. On anorth-facing slope, the vegetation is lush -cover is very high and diversity outstanding. The drillpad at the at the top of the hill was not quite as good, but still an excellent reclamation job, with very good diversity and cover. Reclaimed P-pad was just reseeded in May of 2000 and vegetation has already emerged. MCC staff were actively removing, replacing, repositioning, and installing silt fence as the regrading project proceeds. Excelsior matting is present to be placed on slopes for added protection against erosion. At Area 5, the contractor was in the process of spreading topsoil up the slope. The operator explained the method and approach of his contractor that enables the reclamation to achieve approximate original contractor. This is done by foresight and pre-planning -essentially beginning to anticipate reclamation when the original excavation is made. The cuts are made leaving sinuous stands of the natural vegetation on a preserved slope that will serve as a reference plane later during reclamation. Drill casing remained in the ground, but has been cemented. All in all, the earth work at that location is proceeding very well. Areas that have already been reclaimed look to be in excellent condition. There is no indication of erosion or instability anywhere in the Apache Rocks area. The road that was recently reopened to the drillsites for the gob vent boreholes was also in excellent condition. Sidecast construction had been used on some of the areas where additional width was cut. Silt fence had been installed at locations where soil was piled. One area which had been too muddy to traverse was now reclaimed -reseeded, fertilized and mulched with weed-free straw. At the "Two Ponds" area, the USFS requested the drillpad proposed be moved several hundred feet to protect the habitat ofcavity-nesting birds. That site was visited and the high-pressure hose used to move water up to the drillsite was inspected.