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Reclamation Success Standards <br />Seneca Coal Company proposes to determine revegetation success through the <br />use of reference areas in compliance with Rule 4.15.7. Seneca Coal Company <br />proposes to utilize the concept of extended reference areas. The extended <br />reference area embodies all area outside of the approved disturbance area yet <br />within the mine permit boundary. Seneca Coal Company has suitably <br />demonstrated that the extended reference area is statistically representative <br />of the pre-mine communities in the proposed mine disturbance area. The <br />minimum acreages available for the extended reference area vegetation types <br />will be: Aspen woodland-100 acres, Mountain Brush-600 acres, Sagebrush-200 <br />acres, and Mesic Drainage and Subirrigated Pasture-S acres. <br />Cover and production reclamation success standards will be based on <br />comparison of the reclaimed areas with the extended reference areas, in <br />agreement with Rule 4.15.7(3). Reclamation success standazds for species <br />diversity and woody plant density shall be based on technical standards agreed <br />on between Seneca Coal Company and the Division, as allowed by Rule <br />4.15.7(2)(d)(i). <br />The cover standard will be calculated on an azea weighted basis, this method <br />is in compliance with Rule 4.15.7(4)(b). Only the three dominant vegetation <br />types will be utilized in the calculation to determine cover on the shrub <br />grassland type reclaimed communities. These three dominant types are; <br />Mountain shrub, aspen woodland, and sagebrush. The cover comparison <br />standard for the reclaimed mesic drainage areas will be based on the weighted <br />average cover of the undisturbed mesic drainage type and the improved <br />pasture-subJrrigated. Seneca Coal Company has proposed a cover standard <br />of 35% for the haul road corridor. This proposal is in agreement with Rule <br />4.15.7(2)(d)(iv). The vegetation types along the haul road corridor are <br />considered of minor significance in areal extent and are not considered critical <br />or unique habitat. The 35% cover standard is based upon weighted mean <br />covet data collected in pre-mine sampling of the sagebrush, western <br />wheatgrass/alkali sagebrush, alkali sagebrush/greasewood, and alkali meadow <br />vegetation types. <br />Seneca Coal Company proposes a technical standazd of 21% for cover success <br />on the concentrated shrub establishment areas. Rule 4.17.(2)(ii), (iv), and (v), <br />require that technical standards be based on either technical documents <br />approved by the Division and the Office of Surface Mining, or set for <br />communities that the Division considers of minor significance, or derived from <br />pre-mine data collected over a period of several years. Because none of these <br />circumstances apply to the Yoast shrub clumps, the Division is unable to <br />accept a technical standard for cover on the concentrated shrub area, and <br />suggests the cover standard be based on weighted mean herbaceous cover <br />Yonst Mine 35 July 6, 1995 <br />