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SMUGGLER MINE SITE V ~ EXHIBIT D EXHIBIT D RECLAMATION PLAN Proposed reclamation of the Smuggler Mine is no less unique than the mine itself. The proposed reclamation will preserve the historic character of the site in the public interest for future generations, allow continuation of public tours ofthe site, and provide for complete remedial action reclamation, if and when preservation and tours are no longer feasible. The historic land use of the Smuggler Mine and its surrounding area was mining. More recently, the surrounding area land use has changed to residential and recreation. The primary land use of the Smuggler Mine has continued to be mining for the past century, but an important secondary land use has been the mine tours. D-1.0 Definition of Reclamation One of the fundamental requirements of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act is to reclaim mined land to a beneficial use. The beneficial use might be agricultural, residential, cornmercial/industrial, water storage, recreational, wildlife habitat, etc. Some beneficial uses include revegetation; some do not. When reclamation includes revegetation to a natural system it is defined as the activity implemented on a disturbed area that artificially initiates and accelerates the natural continuous trend toward ecological recovery (BROWN, 1982). Mother Nature will reclaim a disturbed site, in time, without man's intervention. Some sites recover faster than others but all sites recover. Much of the mine-related disturbance around Aspen has recovered naturally. Man's intervention in the form of reclamation simply speeds up the recovery process. In most cases, a site will not return to the exact ecological composition it was before disturbance because slopes and other natural features have been changed by mining. The area will, however, recover and function in a manner ecologically similar to that prior to its disturbance. The natural, continuous trend toward ecological recovery is initiated and accelerated by stabilizing the physical and biological aspects of disturbed land. Regrading and revegetation are the two basic reclamation activities that serve to stabilize the physical and biological aspects of the ecosystem. D-2.0 Near Term Reclamation Measures As indicated in Section C-3.5, some reclamation related activities will be implemented in the near term, i.e., within the next 3 years. These measures will include: regrading the top of Dump No. 2 to drain back into the mountain rather than over the face of the mine dump, grading the parking lot on the main mine bench to drain into the large depression in the main mine bench, dust control measures and some fencing and reseeding. 23 - SMUGGLER MME SITE