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A wood fiber mulch and appropriate soil amendments and fertil- izers will be applied to the top of the Who Do mine dump, and on the reworked White Cloud and Wynona mine dumps. The mulch will decrease erosion and help to hold water near the root systems of the trees and shrubs. Once the evergreen trees and shrubs have recovered from the transplanting operation, organic fertilizer will be added to the revegetated areas. Other supplements will be applied to adjust the acidity of the revegetated areas, and to add nutrients to the soil. These reclamation techniques will insure that a long-lasting vegeta- tive cover will be established on the affected lands, and help to prepare the ground for voluntary revegetation. The mill tailings will consist of compacted, fine-grained, light-colored, siliceous, sandy material that will have very few of the essential chemical elements or physical properties needed for plant growth. Therefore, special reclamation xrw '" techniques will be employed to establish a permanent, self- ' -sustaining, and diverse cover of vegetation on the land surface affected by the impoundment of the mill tailings. Because the tailings retention structure will have three sloping sides and a relatively flat surface, the species selection, site preparation, and planting methods for these two areas will address their different physical characteris- tics. The tailings impoundment area will be reclaimed in a manner that establishes a growth of pine trees and low shrubs along the starter dike, a cover of native grasses over the tailings embankment, and a meadow of grasses and scattered trees and shrubs on the flat surface of the former tailings pond. ~ The revegetation part of the reclamation plan for the tailings impoundment area will be implemented over a period of several years, and will involve four separate phases. These four phases have been planned to coincide with the physical stabi- lization and consolidation of the mill tailings, which will depend upon the rate of tailings deposition. The first phase will be centered around field tests; the second phase will concentrate on establishing a cover of stabilizing vegetation on the sloping sides of the starter dike and the tailings embankment; the third phase will focus on developing an effective growth of grasses on the former tailings pond; and the fourth phase will be directed towards creating a diverse cover of trees and shrubs on the reclaimed tailings pond. Within two years of the commencement of sustained milling operations, a field test site will be developed below the shipping area of the mill building. Field tests will be conducted on consolidated mill tailings to determine the best soil conditions for establishing vegetation, and to assist in V selecting the proper grass species for revegetatiog the tailings retention area. These field tests will provide useful information regarding soil amendments, seed mixtures, and grass yields at this elevation during a two year study period under actual climatic conditions. The revegetation of the tailings dam embankment will commence during the first year after tailings deposition has finally ended. inasmuch as the starter dike will be similar in composition and texture to portions of the mine dumps, the same revegetation methods will be used to reclaim this part of the tailings dam. Trees and shrubs will be planted in spe- cially treated and improved soil that will be transported to the site. Between 30 and 40 trees ranging in height from 3 to 6 feet will be planted every 15 feet along the starter dike's southeastern face. Approximately 40 shrubs will be planted between the trees. The indigenous tree and shrub species that will be planted on the starter dike will be selected from the same list of species that will be used to determine the vegetation for transplanting onto the reclaimed mine dumps. Native sgecies, either collected from the area or purchased from a nursery, will be transplanted at the reclamation site. -23-