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• CWI's Orchard Valley Mine. Furthermore, this data also indicates that it <br />is not unlikely to find one species with a relative cover exceeding 40X <br />within these native communities. This information indicates that it may be <br />difficult or impossible to meet the criteria of item R3 on reclamation <br />areas. <br />Review of Existing Reclamation Literature <br />A brief review of the existing reclamation literature was conducted <br />noting the relative importance of species in reclamation seedings at <br />western mines. During this review, a general scarcity of published <br />information concerning native species establishment throughout the western <br />United States was noted. Of the published material available, few studies <br />were directly comparable to the reclamation plans proposed for CWI's <br />Orchard Valley Mine due [o differences in seeding mixtures, rates, and <br />methods, etc. The most similar research utilizing a se?d mixture <br />consisting entirely of native species with similar seeding rates, species <br />and methods of seeding has been conducted on topsoiled, coal surface-mined <br />• lands in southeastern Montana (DePuit et al., 1980). In their research, <br />Depuit et al. (1980) utilized a seed mixture consisting of several species <br />also proposed in CWI's reclamation seed mix including western wheatgrass, <br />thickspike wheatgrass, streambank wheatgrass, slender wheatgrass and <br />beardless wheatgrass. This mixture was also seeded utilizing broadcast <br />seeding methods at a rate of 30 pounds (PLS) per acre. The results of this <br />research using methods similar to those proposed by CWI were very <br />interesting. By the end of the third growing season, 4 species possessed <br />relative cover values greater than 3% including thickspike wheatgrass <br />(24%), streambank wheatgrass (24%), western wheatgrass (15%) and fourwing <br />saltbush (15%) for a total combined relative cover value of 78%. <br />Although this information is far from conclusive it does suggest that <br />it may be difficult to obtain a vegetation cover on reclamation areas <br />consisting of at least 5 dominant species whose combined relative cover <br />does not exceed 75%. <br />u <br />3 <br />