2004-08-30_REVISION - M1977573 (2)

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amount of lake area, the revegetation area should result. But, that number still doesn't match anything on the ground that makes sense. So, that approach fails to provide a number for the amount of land included in the revegetation portion of the reclamation plan that has not been released south of the river. That value is the one that is required to produce a reasonable and accurate bond reduction amount. For the last several years a value of 35.75 acres has been reported in the annual reports as the amount of land being revegetated. That value, based on the examination of past records, was derived by subtraction of various release parcels, mainly lakes, from total areas. In short, that value of 35.75 was not determined by direct measurement. Examining the various parcels that are known to be included in revegetation, using direct measurement, and deducting vazious parcels that could not have been included in that value at that time, a value that is a bit more than that 35.75 acres is derived. But it is the closest value produced. Because the 35.75 acre value has been reported in the annual report, is one that has been consistently used in the past, and is reasonably verified by measurement on maps, 35.75 acres is the value that is used to detemrine the amount of bond to be released. Next, is determining what the bonded dollar value of that 35.75 acres actually is so that value can be subtracted from the current bond amount. Because no bond adjustments have been made that involved revegetated land since the 1997 bond calculation was done the revegetation cost per acre in the 1997 amendment will be used to determine the bonding dollaz amount to be released. That value was $343.19 per acre (DMG calculation). That amount times 35.75 is $12,251.88. Rounded to the nearest dollar this value becomes $12,252. The current bond amount for the operation is $343,323.00. The new bond amount for the remaining permitted acreage becomes $331,071 for 129. 25 acres. This leaves a $2,561.48 per acre value for reclamation of the remaining permit area. Much of this remaining pemritted azea, which is fortunately in one continuous parcel, has had backfilling and grading completed (the highest cost reclamation). The value of $2,561.48 per acre seems to be a reasonable amount. Even if the primary reservoir final land use is not implemented and the alternate plan implemented, this amount should be sufficient to cover the costs of seeding the entire area and doing any additional final earthmoving. It is therefore concluded that, after release of the remaining permitted land south of the Arkansas River, the remaining permitted area will be 129.25 acres with a bond of $331,071. Ali of this land is located north of the Arkansas River with no remaining permitted land south of the river. Request for Partial Release Pueblo West Pit M-1977-573 Page 3 of 3