Laserfiche WebLink
u <br />I. INTRODUCTION <br />-------------------- ------------- ----- <br />' The expansion of the West Elk Mine facilities to Sylvester Gulch with the attendant <br />disturbance of the Dry Meadow Reference Area illustrates one of the problems with <br />maintaining and managing vegetation reference areas over the life of a mining <br />operation. Mining operations, being dynamic and responding to changing conditions, <br />often modify the mining and reclamation plans during the course of their life of <br />operations. As vegetation communities are dynamic assemblages of vegetation which <br />' respond to outside influences (succession, predation, fire, micro-climatic change, <br />management), their basic characteristics may also change significantly over the life of a <br />mine. Further, since the majority of revegetation is not directed toward the specific re- <br />establishment of disturbed vegetation communities, the usefulness of retaining reference <br />areas as determinants of revegetation success is rightfully questioned. <br />' There are two options available for establishing revegetation success criteria which do <br />not rely on reference areas; technical standards and historic records. Technical <br />standards rely on published information for a specific vegetation community, which <br />provides quantitative values for revegetation success parameters (specifically vegetation <br />cover, herbaceous production, woody plant density, or species diversity). In order to <br />use technical standards for revegetation success criteria, the published literature must be <br />demonstrated to be specifically applicable to the vegetation community to be disturbed. <br />The technical information must also be from vegetation communities equivalent to <br />' those found at the mine. Additionally, the technical standards must be approved by the <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (CDMG) and the federal Office of Surface <br />Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. <br />Historic records rely on the quantitative sampling of an area to be disturbed or <br />equivalent area for several growing seasons. Revegetation success standards are then <br />' derived from the mean of the parameters sampled over several growing seasons. The <br />advantage of a historic record revegetation success criterion is that it is site specific and <br />reflects the growth conditions which can be expected at the reclamation site. Further, <br />economic and time savings are realized at bond release, as there is no need to sample <br />one or more reference areas to establish the revegetation success criteria values. Nor is <br />there the need to maintain reference areas during the life of the mine. <br />This report discusses the development of the historic record concept and 1996 sampling <br />i as proposed and conceived for the West Elk Mine. Information in this report addresses <br />the existing precipitation regime, soils, and vegetative condition of the historic record <br />study area at the mine. <br /> <br /> <br /> -1- <br />' <br />