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Species Diversity Diversity of the postmining vegetative communities will 6e based on methods proposed by CMLRD (Emrich 1982) and will be evaluated ~by comparison of dominant life forms with greater than three percent relative importance in the premining communities to the dominant life forms in postmining communities. A comprehensive species list will be prepared indicating total number of species present in the reclaimed area subject to release. A discussion of the evenness of species distribution based on cover data will also be included. Because the mine permit area and the haul road corridor are far removed from each other, they. will be discussed separately. The II-W and II-W South Extension areas will be discussed separately. The relative importance value ~to be used for species diversity evaluations is relative cover. The number of species and relative cover values proposed are based primarily on premining baseline vegetation data and previous consultation with CMLRD. Additional consideration for the diversity levels to be achieved include limitations of the applied reclamation technology currently available, the levels of plant community development achievable during the liability period, successional time frames, and monitoring data for reclaimed areas at the Seneca II Mine. • • The species diversity standard for the II-W mine area is~ as follows.. Three cool season grasses, three ~forbs, four shrubs, and one tree will be established in the overall reclaimed area. No one species will account for more than 40 percent relative cover and the above grass, forb, and shrub species combined will not exceed 75 percent relative cover . For the three grasses and three fortis, the relative cover contribution of each will not. be less than three percent. Of the four established shrubs, only two will have minimum relative cover. values. In the overall reclaimed areas, two of the four established shrubs will have relative cover values of one percent:or greater. ~ This reflects the very difficult task of reestablishing shrubs and the lengthy development period required for establishing shrub stands with any significant cover or areal extent. In the concentrated shrub and tree planting areas, two species will have relative cover of not less than three percent. each. ~ In the concentrated planting areas containing trees, each of two shrub species will have~not less than three percent relative cover and one tree species will not have less than one percent relative cover. , Tree cover is proposed at the one percent relative cover value because 500 stems per acre for aspen is the proposed standard and the trees will most likely have low cover even after 10 years. • 43 Revised 1 /99