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permanent, productive, and varied vegetation of predominately native species is established. Specific goals which factored into the permanent seed mixes and seedling lists includes rapid and long- term surface stabilization, ease of establishment, maximum use of native species, adequate species diversity, high levels of utility for livestock and wildlife, good forage production potential, compatibility with naturally regenerating native species present in replaced topsoil, and the ability to be self-sustaining or compliment successional processes in the reclaimed plant communities. Attainment of these goals, in turn, facilitates achievement of the post mining land uses. Various techniques are used to establish trees and shrubs. Experience has shown that the inclusion of shrubs along with other general seed mixes tend to produce relatively few shrubs because the competition from herbaceous plants, especially grasses, is overwhelmingly oppressive. SCC uses a concentrated shrub seed mix in select areas in order to establish clumps or thickets of woody stemmed plants. This seedtnix includes: Serviceberry Mt Big Sagebrush Chokecherry Snowberry Antelope bitterbrush Rocky Mtn penstemon Tailcup Lupine Monitoring results over the life of the entire Seneca operations indicate that changes to the hydrologic regime on reclaimed steep slopes affect efforts to re-establish shmbs and trees. Much of the shrub and tree mortality comes from grazing and browsing by wildlife. The direct relationship between herbaceous spedes production and woody plant spedes production is obvious over the many years of data collection. As the herbaceous spedes increase the woody plant species decrease. The lower the annual predpitation, the higher the shrub stem counts for that yeaz. These data and conclusions aze taken from the Seneca Coal Co. annual revegetation monitoring reports available at the mine office or the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. With this in mind, additional areas are selected, based on configuration and aspect, for establishing shrub and tree plots. The general planting list includes the following species: Aspen Bitterbrush Box Elder Buffaloberry Chokecherry Cottonwood Currant Dogwood GambelOak Mtn. Mahogany Serviceberry Silver Sage Snowberry Willow Woods Rose Selected plots are fenced to exclude wildlife (deer and elk). In plots where aspens are included, drip-irrigation systems aze installed along with weed barrier fabric to increase the rate of early survival for each aspen tree. Approximately 86,250 trees and shrubs have been planted in selected plots covering 31 acres (4 plots fenced and 7 plots unfenced) since 2003 at Yoast. In addition to the shrub and tree seedlings, the plots ate broadcast seeded with the concentrated shrub seed mix listed above. Monitoring of Mined Land Revegetation Monitoring of revegetated areas at the Yoast Mine consists of both qualitative evaluations and quantitative measurements. Qualitative evaluations are cazried out at least annually during the growing season. Quantitative measurements and evaluations on each reclamation block are conducted after years two, four and seven and during the Fnal two years prior to final bond release. Initial reseeding occurred in 2001 and has continued annually,to date. Yoard Mane - 2006 Reclamation Award Nomination page 3