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b. Annual Forage Production Annual production of this area was estimated by the Soil Conservation Service to be 2,500 pounds of air- dry forage during favorable years, 2,000 pounds during median years and 1,500 pounds of foraye duriny unfavorable years. Precipitation during the past two years has been substantially bclo~v normal. Total production obtained during the sununcr of 1977 revealed that 700 pounds of air- dry forage ~oere present on the reclaimed site. Although this figure is lower than pre-mining production figures, it must be pointed out that several factors help explain this low value. Precipitation in 1976 was the driest year in nearly ten years and precipitatio~z for 1977 was the-driest duriny the previous 50 years in this area. Aside from the climatic conditions, two biotic constraints acted on the seeded stand to lower overall plant production. Due to the mild winters encountered over the past two years, abnormally high populations of rabbits and rodents, speci-fically pocket gophers, have almost totally decimated the vegetation on this site. Since this area is unique ir. the fact that it is an island of lush green forage nearly surrounded by d_y and probably overgrazed lands, such conditions are to be expected. It is unlikely that any suitable control measures can be implemented to avoid this excessively high and unregulated form of grazing. c. Plant Density Counts In the field of range management, evaluation of seeded stands is often determined based on the number of plants sampled per square foot. Studies in the Intermou-tain Region in the eleven to thirteen-inch precipitation zone stands were rated excellent when. 0.75 or more plants per square foot were sampled. In C]ortheastern Colorado, see~ings are considered successful when one or more plants were established per two feet of row, twc years after seeding. Density counts taken on this site by Energy Fuels indica~e the overall density of the entire site in 1977 was 4.02 plants per square foot. Definitely, this figure indicates that the stand has become more than adequately stocked wren judged by the criteria utilized in range reseeding. In summary, the standards that have been developed over the past 100 years of range reseeding research indicate that reclamation has been completed on this site in spite of soil, rodent and drought problems encountered and, there- fore, the request made by Energy Fuels to obtain a final bond release from this area should be granted.