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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. This was a complete inspection of the New Horizon Mine conducted by Dan Mathews and Sandy Brown. Ross Gubka accompanied us on the inspection. The weather was cool and clear. Ground conditions were dry. Records were checked in the mine office. A checklist of available records is attached. ReveQetation The primary purpose of this inspection was to look at the reclamation. Several reclamation tracts were observed. Western-Fuels undertakes extensive management practices in their reclamation. Western- Fuels l:uer levels the regazded land and then `screens' the topsoil to reduce the rock component in the replaced soils. Mr. Gubka described their irrigation practices and equipment using side roll irrigators. This inigation technique is much more efficient than the flood irrigation used in several adjacent fields. Western-Fuels has recently added their ninth side roll irrigator to the reclaimed lands. The irrigated pasturelands appeaz to be doing very well. At the New Horizon Mine there are three post-mining land uses, dryland pasture, irrigated pasture and irrigated cropland. Dryland pasture is irrigated for the first yeaz or two. Imgated pasture and irrigated cropland is irrigated each year. Mr. Gubka explained that the pre-mining land is owned by several private owners implementing a patchwork of uses. The pre-mining topography somewhat dictates how the land can be used. Some landowners have water rights and some do not. Therefore, once the irrigated land is released from bond, it may or may not continue to be irrigated. If it is not, there is the question of whether an effective and permanent vegetation cover that supports the approved postmining land use will be established. This issue will need to be further discussed and evaluated. Mr. Gubka explained that they aze having trouble meeting the revegetation success standazds at the Rice Property. This is a tract of land at New Horizon 1 that was reclaimed to dryland pasture. The predominate species is Russian wildrye. Storksbill, a winter annual, is also providing a significant amount of cover. The Rice property was irrigated following seeding. It is not currently irrigated and has not been for several years. Several species have died out probably due to the lack of irrigation combined with the recent drought. The dryland pasture reference azea is located within the airport fence. The vegetative cover and the plant diversity are slightly higher in the reference area, but there is evidence of die out from the drought there also. Mr. Gubka explained that they started final revegetation sampling for bond release last summer, but it was apparent that the reference azea standa~•ds would not be achieved in the Rice tract and they stopped sampling. There is no easy answer for this situation. The Division is evaluating the revegetation section of the permit as part of the mid-term review. A letter addressing this topic will be sent in the neaz future.