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Purpose <br />The purpose of this report is to provide CWI with recommendations as <br />to the best way to address this stipulation. This report addresses the <br />criteria under item H3 of CMLRD's memo by 1) reviewing the relative <br />importance of species in the native reference areas at CWI and comparing it <br />with the stipulated species composition values, 2) performing a brief <br />literature review of existing reclamation literature to note the species <br />composition in reclamation plantings at selected western mines and 3) <br />contacting the reclamation supervisors of several Colorado coal companies <br />to inquire as to their acceptance or alternatives of these same criteria <br />and to ascertain their reasons for their decisions. <br />RESULTS AND DISCUSSION <br />Relative Importance of Species in the Native Reference Areas at CWI <br />Summaries of the species diversity data for the pinyon-,juniper, mixed- <br />shrub and herbaceous reference areas are presented in Tables 1-3, <br />• respectively. Relative cover values of the dominant species (relative <br />cover greater than 3%) for each reference area were summed to see if the <br />reference areas themselves would pass the criteria of item #3 specifying <br />that the combination of the 5 dominant species should not exceed 75% in <br />relative cover. It is interesting to note that none of the reference areas <br />met this requirement. The sum total of the 5 most dominant species was <br />greater than 80% for each of the reference areas (ie. 83.2, 92.1 and 89.5% <br />for the pinyon-juniper, mixed-shrub and herbaceous reference area, <br />respectively). <br />The species diversity data for the reference areas were also reviewed <br />to see if any of the dominant species had a relative cover value exceeding <br />40%, which is the second criterion of item p3. This review showed that of <br />the native reference areas, two (mixed-shrub and herbaceous) possessed a <br />dominant species with a relative cover value exceeding 40% (7ables 2 and 3, <br />respectively). <br />The species diversity information presented above indicates that the <br />occurrence of 5 or less plant species with a total relative cover exceeding <br />• 75% is characteristic of the native communities within the boundaries of <br />2 <br /> <br />