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<br />Gambel's oak (Quercus gambe/i~) was found, To disturb the existing natural <br />revegetation through excavating the fill slope and backfilling the cut slope restarts the <br />successional time clock with respect to vegetation establishment. Though reseeding <br />presumably would be undertaken, the majority of seeded species would be graminoids <br />and forts, all woody shrubs and trees disrupted by excavation and backfilling would be <br />lost. Even with augmented planting of shrubs and trees, the density and age structure <br />of the existing plants on the slopes would be disrupted. <br />As noted earlier, backfilling would create longer slopes. This increases the surface <br />area which would need to be revegetated. With increased area and decreased natural <br />cover (provided by the currently revegetated fill slopes), revegetatioa success would <br />likely decrease due to the increased erosion potential and configuration of the slopes. <br />Health and Safety <br />Backfilling the relatively steep slopes along the access roads would probably entail the <br />use of a tracked excavator to remove material from the fill slope and place the material <br />against the cut slope. Additionally, to ensure material stability, a dozer or compactor <br />would likely be required to compact the placed material to ensure long term stability. <br />Revegetation would also be required on the backfilled slopes, entailing mulching and <br />seeding. Operations with equipment on the bac]d-filled slopes would be potentially <br />dangerous. Grades of 2:1 tax the ability of equipment operators, particulazly when <br />operating along the contour, as would be required for compaction and revegetation. <br />Operating heavy equipment on these slopes calls into question the advisability of the <br />backfilling plan. <br />Increased cost of reclamation <br />While the cost of reclamation may not be of general concern to the land management <br />agency, in reality the cost of completing a reclamation plan determines the ultimate <br />feasibility of the plan. Tables 1 and 2 depict an estimate of the amount of material <br />needed to completely backfill the upper and lower access roads. A total of 38,357 <br />bank cubic yards of material would be needed to complete the backfilling. Presuming <br />this material could be excavated on-site from the road fill or adjacent azeas, the <br />estimated cost for backfilling would be in excess of $76,000.00. This estimate <br />presumes a unit cost of $2.00 per cubic yard to excavate and compact the backfill. <br />This amount does not address reseeding, planting, or erosion control along the roads. <br />Based on my reclamation project cost estimating experience, I would conservatively <br />estimate total reclamation costs under the road backfilling scenario to be in excess of <br />$100,000.00. <br />-5- <br />