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Assuming a mean vegetative cover of 5 percent in the 6-acre portal coal storage azea and <br />70 percent in the 6-acre facilities/refuse area, the vegetative cover for the entire area <br />would average approximately 35 percent. <br />The most severe and recent disturbance is the portal area and the access road. Prior to <br />redisturbance resulting from F.astside's exploration activity in 1983, vegetation was limited <br />to scattered annual forbs. Topsoil had been buried during bench construction, and the <br />surface of the pad was a compacted mix of coal, subsoil and gravel. A bench to the south <br />of the portal area had previously been used as a storage azea for scoria and coal. Topsoil <br />has been buried by construction, and the substrate is largely crushed rock with some waste <br />coal. Vegetative cover is somewhat more extensive and diverse than in the portal area, <br />with some scattered rabbitbrush, sagebrush and other shrubs in addition to annuals. The <br />vegetative cover for the combined 6-acre portal-bench azea was estimated at 5 percent by <br />the operator. <br />All of the areas that have been disturbed by the operations at Eastside have been <br />previously disturbed in varying degrees by pre-law coal mining activities. As such, the <br />revegetation success criteria of Rule 4.15.10 for previously mined areas apply. <br />Stipulation No. 5 in the original Findings Document was satisfied by the submittal of a <br />replacement permit application page committing Fastside to a 35 percent revegetation <br />cover standazd. <br />Minor Revision No. 2 was approved by the Division in February 1986 and added the <br />species Poa ampla (Big Bluegrass), Artemisia frigida (Fringed Sage), and Penstemon <br />strictus (Rocky Mountain penstemon) to the revegetation seed mix. Therefore, Stipulation <br />No. 6, requiring revision of the operator's seed mix, is satisfied. <br />Following final grading in the portal and facilities azeas, reclamation will consist of <br />topdressing with available soil material as discussed in the previous section, followed by <br />ripping, discing, broadcast seeding and straw mulching. Straw mulching will be applied <br />by either mechanical means or spread by hand over the disturbed areas at a rate of 2 tons <br />per acre. The mulch will then be crimped into the soil by light discing or other <br />mechanical means providing equivalent crimping capability. This plan has been approved <br />by the Division and fulfills the requirements of Rule 4.15.4. <br />Fertilizer will be applied based on fertility analyses obtained at the time of reclamation. <br />The seed mix contains one shrub, four wing saltbrush, and a number of bunch gasses, <br />sod farming grasses, and two leguminous forbs_ <br />As discussed in the vegetation section, cover would be the criteria by which revegetation <br />success would be established. The baseline information was obtained from areas of <br />previous disturbance, with the results being a high percentage of shrubs and annual weeds. <br />The herbaceous cover on the disturbed area, including the perennial and biennial forbs and <br />succulents, is 10 percent. One transect run on an area which had not been previously <br />disturbed indicated approximately 3 percent cover for the grass plants. Inclusion of the <br />16 <br />