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IV. OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS <br />Completion of Minimum Liability Period <br />The site was seeded more than 10 yeazs ago in 1991; therefore, the 10-yeaz liability period has <br />expired. <br />Sediment Control Ponds and Monitorin¢ Wells <br />As observed during the bond release inspection and previous regulaz quarterly inspections, the four <br />sediment control ponds have been regraded and revegetated to meet the requirements of 3.03.1. All <br />four sites have vegetative cover similaz to the adjacent reclaimed area and the cover is effectively <br />controlling erosion. <br />Kaiser sealed all monitoring wells in accordance with Section 4.07.3, and submitted final plugging <br />and abandonment reports to the Division. The Division inspected those former well sites on <br />December 8, 2004. The sites had been properly reclaimed. <br />Reveeetation Success <br />The operator's consultant, Greystone Environmental Consultants, sampled the revegetation in the <br />bond release area in June 2003 and June 2004. Division staff observed sampling in the field in both <br />yeazs. Sampling followed a plan approved by the Division and described in the last seven pages of <br />Exhibit 5 of the permit application. The plan followed the requirements of the Division's 1995 bond <br />release guideline document. The sampling plan was designed to ensure randomness of samples and a <br />statistically adequate number of samples. Adequacy of sample size for the 90%confidence level was <br />determined from the Snedecor-Cochran formula. <br />Cover and species data were collected along 50-meter point-intercept transects using an optical point <br />proj ection device. Production data were collected byhand-clipping vegetation inhalf--meter quadrats <br />at three locations along each transect. (There is no sepazate density standazd for woody shrubs.) The <br />operator's consultant submitted the sample data and analysis to the Division in the bond release <br />application. <br />The bond release area was evaluated as two sepazate bond release blocks, the East Pit Reclaimed <br />Area and the Barren Ridge/Revision 1 Area. There were 17 transects in the East Pit Reclaimed Area <br />and 17 transects in the Barren Ridge/Revision 1 Area. There were 15 transects in the Reference <br />Area. In the calculation of cover, annual and biennial species were limited and noxious weeds were <br />excluded, as required by the Division's 1995 bond release guideline. <br />Taking into account growth that occurred between the June 2004 sampling and the September 2004 <br />bond release inspection, vegetative cover in the reclaimed azeas that were examined during the bond <br />release inspection appeazed consistent with the sample data in the bond release application. <br />Tables 3 through 8, below, show comparisons of cover, production, and diversity for samples from <br />