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access from Road A. It will probably also be the best route to bring the track hoe out as it would lessen any damage to the area between Site D and Site C. If Road A is not used, impact to Sites C and E will be light to moderate. Walk in to Sites I and N will have no additional negative impact. These walk-in routes are currently disturbed. The routes will be reclaimed upon completion of mining. Walk in to Site K from the Elk Horn Mine will be light to moderate. All other sites are on existing roads. Reclamation will proceed as it does for any disturbance. The ground must be prepared for seed and in some cases, stabilized, to guazd against possible erosion. Walk-in areas generally are effectively reclaimed by roughing up (raking) the track marks and reseeding. As the track hce is backed out of an area, the bucket is used to reach along its route to break up any compacted areas. The teeth are raked to depths of 6 inches, if necessary, to insure a loose bed to hold both seed and moisture. Secondly, any high edges are smoothed out to return the walk way to a natural appearance. Finally, seed is sowed and as necessary, raked in. Other erosion control practices are generally not necessary because the existing vegetation is not removed. If needed, due to the slope or possibly pre-existing disturbances where no vegetation is, or across severely burned azeas, water bazs, berms, andlor silt fencing will be used. Again, I will use whatever methods I need to use in order to reclaim and return the land to a productive wildlife habitat. S. New or improved roads must be included as part of the permitted acreage (Rule 6.3.3(!)(8)). Development of new roads or significant improvement of existing roads other then ones included to the mine permit area would require a modification to the Division reclamation permit, and likely additional Forest Service approvals. Hanvever the Mineral Rules definition for "cr,~ected lands" states that ... Affected land shall not include o„~site roads which existed prior to the date on which notice was given or permit application was made to the o,~ce and which were constructed for purposes unrelated to the proposed mining operation and which will not be substantially upgraded to support the mining operation... (Rule 1.1(4)). Please comment on the roads to be used in the mining operation with respect to the above road defrnitions. Based on field inspections the following "improvements" or maintenance may be accomplished in order to keep system and non-system roads useable. None of the "improvements" are considered significam.