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_~ III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. General Comments This was a partial mine site inspection. Primary purpose of the inspection was to view revegetated areas in Section 16 that would be affected by future disturbance associated with South Taylor mining, as well as the CSU shrub establishment plots and East Pit revegetated areas in the general vicinity of the CSU plots. Brief inspection was also made of the locations along the lower section of the West Fork Good Spring Creek, where two sediment ponds would be constructed to handle runoff from the southern portions of the South Taylor pit disturbance area. I was accompanied on the inspection by Colowyo Environmental Engineers Curt Blunt and Tony Tennyson. Environmental Coordinator Tay Tonozzi was present during follow-up discussions after the inspection. Weather was partly cloudy, cool and windy during the inspection; ground surface was dry in most areas. Revegetation-Section 16 Area We viewed the general location where the proposed South Taylor temporary out of pit spoil disposal area would be located. The location includes a broad, relatively flat bench area, with an area of moderately steep east facing slopes to the east of the bench. These areas were seeded in 1994/95, and appear to be relatively typical of much of the reclamation at Colowyo. The relatively flat benches are dominated by wheatgrasses and cicer milkvetch. Intermediate wheatgrass was still included in the mix seeded at that time, and appeared to be the dominant grass. Some widely scattered sagebrush plants were present on the bench, but woody plant density is quite low. In contrast, the steeper east facing slopes support relatively high density big sagebrush shrub patches, particularly along the upper slope where snow may accumulate on the lee side of the bench. This pattern seems to occur in various locations on the reclaimed areas at Colowyo, with shrub patches (primarily big sagebrush) associated with topographic features and aspects that allow for somewhat higher soil moisture conditions than are typical on the broad grass dominated areas that tend to lack significant topographic variation. We looked at a fence shrub planting area on the bench, designated 956, The area has become overgrown with grass, but patches of Woods rose have persisted well inside the fenced area. A sharptail grouse was flushed out of a small sagebrush patch just outside of the 958 fenced shrub area. Revegetation-East Pit Area The first stop here was an area that had been seeded between 1997 and 2003, and which had been burned (unintentionally) in October 2005. The fire had burned through a fenced shrub establishment area (1999A). Areas both inside and outside of the fenced shrub establishment area are dominated by cool season grasses and cicer milkvetch, with very few shrubs, although the areas generally seem to be more diverse than the 1994/95 seeded areas on the flat bench described previously. The East Pit areas observed were located on relatively gently sloping areas with a predominant easterly aspect. Perennial grasses and (orbs appear to have recovered quickly and completely from the burn, and the burned areas are now difficult to separate from the unburned areas. A small herd of pronghorn was observed in this area. Patches dominated by annual brome (cheatgrass and/or Japanese brome) were observed in various locations of the East Pit reclamation, including areas in the vicinity of the burn. Several of the patches were up to several acres in extent, and it appears that cheatgrass could have the potential to become a significant problem. The operator is developing a plan for cheatgrass management that will be included in a revised revegetation plan to be submitted in May 2008. The CSU/DRMS shrub establishment study plots are located further downslope to the east of the burned area. These plots were installed in the fall of 2000, and include various different soil thickness and seeding treatments, fenced and unfenced. CSU will be collecting data from the plots and preparing a report later this year. Casual observation of the plots reveals impressive establishment of low shrubs (primarily big sagebrush, but also silver 3