2006-08-28_INSPECTION - M2001054

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(Page 2) MINE ID # OR PROSPECTING ID # M-2001-054 INSPECTION DATE 8/11/06 INSPECTOR'S INITIALS RCO OBSERVATIONS This inspection was performed by the Division as part of its monitoring of Construction Materials 110 permits and in response to a recent phone call from the US Forest Service concerning possible reclamation activity on land outside the permit boundary. There was no activity at the site, and the operator was not present for the inspection. The site did not have a visible posted permit ID sign, nor were permit boundary markers seen either. The lack of sign and markers is noted as a problem in this report. The correction of this problem will be to post a sign containing all required information pursuant to Rule 3.1.12, and to mark all boundaries. See the last page for the correction date. The site appears to be in final reclamation. The benches are nearly cleaned up of equipment and parts. There are no stockpiles onsite. The bench and slope surfaces seem to have been graded to nearly conform to the approved reclamation plan. The operator must ensure that the slope surfaces all match the gradients approved in the reclamation plan. The operator needs to be aware that all mining and reclamation activities must be confined to areas inside the permit boundary. This inspector did not see the upper permit boundary corners, and could not assess whether grading had, in fact, occurred outside the boundaries. (This issue was a subject of a phone call from the US Forest Service. If more definite USFS information is received by this office, it will be checked.) After the operator replaces the boundary markers, if it is found that some earthwork occurred outside the boundary. this information must be reported to this office. There was no topsoil to salvage and no topsoil to respread. Seeding directly on the pitrun/gravel surface appears to have been recent, with young grass seedlings evident on some of the reclaimed surfaces. By fall this year, if all necessary cleanup and grading has been finished, the areas that did not revegetate well should be apparent. Those bare areas should be reseeded before winter to take advantage of winter/spring moisture. A deer was observed on the site. Drainage on the lower bench is directed toward the NW corner, near the original access road location. Some of the bench shoulder is bermed, but there is a point in the NW corner where uncontrolled runoff leaves the bench and is gullvinp the slope below. Since much of the slope below the bench exhibits a new surface (from recent roadway closurel it is unclear how far sediment is transported down the slope. At this time, this lack of stormwater runoff control is noted as a problem. The correction of the problem will be to re-establish the proper control structures. See the last page for the correction date. This site lies on a steep alluvial fan, below a high gradient gulch. Bridalveil Creek is an actively-meandering creek that has left evidence of moving across the face of the alluvial fan significantly in recent time. The present channel location enters the site along the south boundary. To control the channel's movement on the permitted area, a channel has been constructed along the entire south boundary above the access road, reporting to a sediment pond in the SW corner of the permitted area below the access road. To-date the built channel does not exhibit significant down-cutting. The US forest Service had also stated that some channel construction may have occurred above (outsidel the permitted area boundary. If this, in fact, did happen, the operator must report this to this office. Due to lack of boundary markers or definite information from USES, this could not be verified during the inspection, and is not noted as a problem. The sediment pond was designed with a capacity of 0.25 acre feet. The pond has apparently been catching sediment as intended, since it is nearly full of sediment. The operator has not been maintaining it in a timely manner, and there is now only about 2 feet of freeboard above the sediment level and only about a foot of freeboard above the waterline. The pond capacity is seriously reduced, and is noted as a problem in this report. The correction will be for the operator to clean out the pond to re- establish its full design capacity. See the last page for the correction date. There was no noxious weed observed onsite. Due to the earthwork and initial seeding being at least partially, if not mostly, done, the bond is felt to be adequate at this time. All corrective actions must be performed promptly and reported to this office in writing by the dates shown on the last page. Cont.