REV96608 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

21. In various sections of the application it is indicated that the cover standard for "post law" reclaimed areas would be based on herbaceous cover levels as measured in designated reference areas, and Exhibit 14, "Supplemental Vegetation Information Report" is referenced. In that report, 1981 sampling data for herbaceous production, total cover, and woody plant density for three sagebrush stands occupying different aspects is presented. Total vegetation cover was estimated by point intercept sampling, and the sample means for the three stands ranged fi-om 34.1% to 39.6%. Given the rather modest cover levels in the reference stands, it is recommended that the application be revised to specify that the cover standard be based on total cover rather than herbaceous cover. Herbaceous cover alone, at th.e levels represented, would likely result in excessive erosion. 22. Species diversity standards set forth in the application are based on the Shannon- Wienerdiversity index approach originally recommended in "A Survey of Techniques for Measurement of Herbaceous and Shrub Cover, Production, and Diversity on Coal Lands in the West" (Bonham, et.al. 1980), and "The Concept of Species Diversity in the Evaluation of Revegetation Success" (Larson, 1980) and detailed in the Harner report in Exhibit 14. The standards as stated in the text of the application however, do not conform to the approach recommended in the referenced papers, or to the recommendations in Exhibit 14. For example, the diversity standard proposed for the Williams Fork Strip Pit states that "diversity will be successful when H totalled from four species from the revegetated area contribute 48% to the calculated total H from the revegetated area." If there were four principle species in the premine area which contributed 48% to the total H, and each individually contributed between 7% and 15% to H, the standard based on the Bonham and Larson approach would be as follows: Diversity will be successful when a minimum of four principle species of the same life form and seasonality as the principle species identified in the premine data each contribute between 7% and 15% to the diversity index of the reclaimed area. The diversity standards in the application should be revised to be consistent with use of the Shannon-Wiener Index as discussed above, or alternatively, the diversity index could be replaced with a more straight-forward species composition approach as recommended in the Division's Vegetation aad Land Use Guidelines. In either case, in the interest of practicality, it is suggested that the number of separate diversity standards applicable to different areas be minimized (it is probably not necessary to have a different standard for each aspect of the refuse pile, another standard for the Williams Fork Strip Pit, and yet another standard for other adjacent areas that are reclaimed with the same seedmix.