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Section 780.1161a) Continued <br />vegetation data, compliance with Rule 4.15.71311b1 stipulating statistical comparisons <br />between premine and reference area is not feasible. Consequently, the Kerr Tipple <br />reference area shown on Map 19a was approved by the CMLRD under Rule 4.15.713) <br />which allows for the approval reference areas which are not necessarily representative <br />of the premine plant community. <br />In the case of the Kerr Tipple Area, the reference area is similar to the expected <br />reclaimed plant community. The reference area is located on a valley bench range site <br />which, according to Jackson County Area Soil Survey (available at SCS Office, <br />Walden, Colorado) has a scrubby big sagebrush aspect. Soil conditions are variable. <br />Soils may be deep to shallow, well drained, moderately coarse textured with moderate <br />to rapid permeability and low to high available water capacity. The reclaimed site will <br />probably have similar characteristics. Topsoil will be shallow, well drained, with <br />moderate permeability and a moderate water holding capacity. The reclaimed plant <br />community is expected to resemble the valley bench plant community. <br />Kerr sampled the Reference Area at the Kerr Tipple on July 15, 1981. Data was <br />collected for percent plant cover, production, species diversity, and shrub density. <br />These data and a species list of the plants identified at the Kerr Tipple Reference Area <br />are presented in Exhibit 59, Attachment B, Tables 1 and 2. <br />Based upon the percent composition of the plant species found on the Reference Area, <br />species diversity on the reclaimed areas at the Kerr Tipple will be deemed to have been <br />successfully accomplished when the three dominant plant species on the reclaimed <br />area account for at least 54% of the plant composition and do not account for more <br />than 75% of the plant composition, provided that at least one of the three dominant <br />plant species is a forb and that none of the three dominant plant species comprise less <br />than three percent of the total plant composition. <br />As previously agreed when the Reference Area was identified, the percent total cover <br />and the production from the Reference Area at the end of the liability period will be <br />utilized as the cover and production standard against which revegetation success at <br />the Kerr Tipple will be measured. <br />TR-19 816-157a Revised 11/98 <br />