GENERAL35449 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

_28_ Sufficient soil will be salvaged to allow for replacement of a minimun of 24 inches on the refuse pile, 8 inches on the regraded office area, and 6 inches on the reclaimed portal and coal storage area. Subsoil material currently buried by scoria and gravel in the portal area will be segregated and replaced prior to topdressing of the backfilled portals to insure a plant growth medium of adequate depth. The proposed operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section. XII. Vegetation -- Rules 2.04 10, 2.05.4(2)(e) and 4.15 General vegetation information based on a limited amount of sampling and ocular reconnaissance during the summer of 1983 is presented on pages 62 through 72 of the application. A vegetation report and data from quantitative cover sampling conducted during the sunnier of 1984 in areas to be affected by facilities and waste pile construction is presented on pages 73 through 75C. The revegetation plan is discussed on pages 111 through 118A. The proposed refuse area and office/shop sites were quantitatively sampled during the summer of 1984. The proposed refuse area had previously been a tipple site and small piles of coal fines are scattered through the area. Fill dirt excavation and other mining related disturbances have occurred in the proposed facilities area. A dense stand of big sagebrush with an understory dominated by cheatgrass and yellow sweetclover occurs on both sites. Vegetation cover was estimated at 10% in the 6 acre study area which includes the proposed refuse and facilities areas. Assuming a mean vegetative cover of 5% in the 6 acre portal/coal storage area and 70% in the 6 acre facilities/refuse area, the vegetative cover for the entire area would average approximately 35%. The most severe and recent disturbance is the portal area and the access road. Prior to redisturbance resulting from Eastside's exploration activity in 1983, vegetation was limited to scattered annual fortis. Topsoil had been buried during bench construction, and the surface of the pad was a compacted mix of coal, subsoil and gravel. A bench to the south of the portal area had previously been used as a storage area for scoria and coal. Topsoil has been buried by construction and the substrate is largely crushed rock with some waste coal. Vegetative cover is somewhat more extensive and diverse than in the portal area, with some scattered rabbitbrush, sagebrush and other shrubs in addition to annuals. The vegetative cover for the combined 6 acre portal-bench area was estimated at 5% by the applicant. All of the areas to be disturbed ty the proposed operations at Eastside have been previously disturbed in varying degrees by pre-law coal mining activities. As such, the revegetation success criteria of Rule 4.15.10 for previously mined areas apply.