PERMFILE67186

• Permit No: C1981028
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 6/15/2006
• Doc Name: Revegetation Success Criteria
• Section_Exhibit Name: Appendix TR-37
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

I • 1.0 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The Colorado Surface Coal PvTining Reclamation Act (CRS 34-33-120 and 121)
performance standards require that reclamation establish "a diverse, effective, and
permanent vegetative cover of the same seasonal variety native to the azea of land to be
affected and capable of self-regeneration and plant succession at least equal in extent of
cover to the natural vegetation of the area." In implementing the provisions of the statute,
the constructors of the Colorado regulations concluded that in order to meet revegetation
success, reclaimed and revegetated areas must have a stabilizing cover of vegetation of the
same seasonal variety as that disturbed, and for those areas that are not cropland or to be
developed, herbaceous production, species diversity, and woody plant density equal to
that of the vegetation on the approved reference area or standards.
The overarching concern with using a reference area in evaluating the success of
revegetation centers on comparison of a native vegetation community with an
anthropogenic vegetation community. There are two predominant concerns with
comparing native vegetation communities with reclaimed vegetation communities; first,
the revegetated community has been developed on a significantly different (or altered)
physical environment, and second, revegetation success comparisons are being made
between a mature native vegetation community and an early seral stage vegetation
community.
• Revegetated communities on mined areas generally have a significantly different physical
environment. The geology and stratigraphy of the area has been altered through
fragmentation, extraction, and replacement. With the removal and replacement of the
rock layers, the topography of the reclaimed landscape has been changed, often creating a
more uniform landscape than that present prior to disturbance. The fragmentation,
removal, and replacement of the rock materials has altered the groundwater hydrologic
regime in the disturbance area, and likely has altered the surface water hydrology from the
standpoint of drainage location, drainage pattern complexity, and chemical composition of
the water. Removal, stockpiling, and replacement of topsoil or suitable plant growth
media changes the character of the original soil profile as well as the numbers and
character of macro- and microorganisms within the removed and replaced soil, including
the dormant seed bank. Lastly, the revegetated communities are young, representing eazly
seral stages in the development of the vegetation community, with significantly different
physiognomy and species composition than native communities of the reference areas.
The native vegetation communities that are being used as reference areas have their own
set of characteristics. Whether largely unaffected by man's presence or modified in the last
centuries, the native vegetation communities have developed over long periods of time,
generally hundreds or thousands of years. As a result of this lengthy development, the
vegetation communities are complex, in terms of numbers of species and their distribution
throughout the landscape. Native vegetation communities have adapted to the physical
• and biotic environment in macro- and microdistributional patterns, resulting in patchiness,
and distributions dependent on time of species arrival and competition. Contrasted to
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