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STATE OF COLORADO BIII Owens, Gov~nwr aaa{~~~ GQ~"•w\ DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES RECEivE~ DIVISION OF WILDLIFE ,: ~ ~ ~w JAN 1 ~ 2ppp J} 4y Mo ~ ~ ~ eoeo r Dernx, Calasdo 8021610oO OIVISIen of Minerals 8 Geology 'y OF Te'°P'10fl0 ~'B'-"~ For Wildlrfe- Sandra L. Brown For People Division of Minerals and Geology ] 313 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 January 13, 2000 RE: Bourg Mine Reclamation/Final Bond Release Dear Ms. Brown, I have had a chance to review the information you provided regarding the Bourg Mine reclamation including your letter and the Evaluation of Revegetation Success completed by Keammerer Ecological Consultants, Inc. I also conducted a brief site visit of the mine. Based upon the information provided and the site visit 1 would say that the reclamation efforts have proven successful. Initially the Division of Wildlife was very concerned about the location of the mine since there was a very active and productive sage grouse lek within a short distance of the mine. Reviewing lek count data the mine did have an impact on the sage grouse . during its time of operation and shortly thereafter. ~In fact lek counts indicate that prior to mining the lek had over 100 males displaying. There were high counts of 136 in 1979 and 144 in 1980. During its time of operation the lek gradually declined until there were no birds observed displaying in 1985. However, since the reclamation the lek has been active again with numbers of males gradually increasing to a high count of 67 in 1998. In looking over the data on revegetation the amount of sagebrush is extremely high (13, 993 stems per acre in 1997) on the 1984 reclamation area and certainly over the established standard of 2,000 stems per acre on the 1988 site. The dense stands of sagebrush I observed during my site visit did appear to be quite vigorous with a diversity of height. These stands were generally located in swales and likely had such vigor and density due to moisture that results from drifting snow. The remainder of the site has a mix of vegetation but does not have the dense stands of sagebrush. Individual sagebrush plants are scattered about the remainder of the reclamation area and will likely reestablish over time though not as quickly or as densely due to the aspect and lack of moisture on those areas. I feel that the reclamation will meet the objectives of the postmining uses of rangeland and wildlife habitat. The mix ofherbaceous and shrub cover should prove beneficial to wildlife using the area and I anticipate that the sagebrush will increase in density over much of the site over time. I am very pleased that the sage grouse lek has recovered though numbers of active males are not as high as previously seen. A final thought I have regards the differences in revegetation.success between the Bourg Mine and the Marr Mine. It appears that the Bourg Mine has successfully met the revegetation standards while the Marr Mine has struggled to meet the shrub stem , DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Grey VJekher, Era~crlhe Dksc6or VNLDUFE COMMISSION. Chuck LeaAe, Cteh • Mark LeVeM~, VicsCtmtr • Benwd Stock S~rY Rick Errstran, Member • Marlenrm Rellapoubs, Member • Ph91p Jamec, Member James R. Lore, Member • Amdd Selear, Member • Reban Shosnelar, Member