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PROPOSED DECISION - Canadian Strip/Phase II Bond Release <br />October 1, 1990 <br />Page 4 <br />class would be disruptive to cropland and forestry post-mining land use, <br />and that the critical and severe erosional condition would be disruptive <br />of all post-mining land uses, including rangeland and fish and wildlife <br />habitat, the designated post-mining land use at the site. <br />The classification system evaluates erosion condition based on seven <br />categories: soil movement; litter movement; surface rock fragments; <br />pedestalling; flow patterns; rills and gullies. Each category is broken <br />into five levels of erosion. <br />At Canadian Strip, all five of the participants present on June 6, 1990, <br />rated the east facing slope upslope from Pond 2 to become familiar with <br />the system following instruction from Mark Humphrey. Later, Mark <br />Humphrey, Cathy Begej and Bill Hi11 evaluated the drainage bottom leading <br />into Pond 2, while Jeff Zingo and Susan McCannon evaluated the west <br />facing slope above Pond 2. Cathy Begej evaluated the areas reclaimed <br />prior to 1987. The results are shown on Table 4. <br />Most evaluations rated the Droperty as having a "slight" erosional <br />condition. Usually, only five of the erosion condition categories were <br />observed. Very few pedestals or gullies were found at the site. An <br />effort was made to distinguish between recent, active erosion and past <br />erosion. For instance, it was assumed that a highly revegetated rill was <br />formed in the first year, before any vegetative growth appeared. This <br />rill would not be counted as an erosional feature. Clumps of grass on <br />hill slopes frequently showed some soil deposition upslope and 1/4" to <br />1/2" of exposed roots on the downslope side. This feature was evaluated <br />in the soil movement category. Raindrop imprints were visible on clumps <br />of dirt or areas without vegetative cover. Wyoming Fuel Company had used <br />large, 2" wood chips as a mulch. These were frequently aligned between <br />drill rows or in the bottom of rills found on slopes. Recent movement of <br />wood chips was assigned to the category of litter movement, along with <br />all other organic matter but scat (antelope pelletsl. <br />TABLE 4: Summary of Erosional Stability Observations <br /> Identified Possible Erosion <br /> Factor Factor Percentage Condition Class <br />East Facing Slope N/A N/A 20-40 Slight <br />West Facing Slope <br />Observer 1 14 71 20 Stable <br />Observer 2 38 85 44 Moderate <br />Palley Bottom <br />Observer 3 13 71 18 Slight <br />Observer 4 16 43 37 Slight <br />Northern Part of <br />Property 12 12 17 Stable <br />