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will be installed at the No. 9 Mine Portal Excavation to monitor potential ground water <br />within 90 days of final grading of the No. 9 Mine Portal Excavation. <br />A plan for post-mining topography was approved as a portion of original Permit No. <br />C-81-044 for the Williams Fork Strip Pit No. 2. The approved configuration requires <br />the regrading of approximately 240,000 cubic yards of spoil. The applicant was allowed <br />to postpone fmal grading, because the installation of a second set of portals for the No. 9 <br />Mine was proposed at this location. These portals, Nos. 9A, were never installed. <br />Backfilling and grading of the Williams Fork Strip Pit No. 2 commenced August 10, <br />1987. Initial seeding occused that fall. <br />VIII. Revegetation <br />Pre-mine vegetation information is provided in Section 2.04.10. Additional information <br />is provided in Exhibit 14, Supplemental Vegetation Information. Vegetation <br />communities aze shown on Map 20 -Vegetation Map. Section 2.05 of the permit <br />application describes the revegetation methodology and revegetation standards for each <br />type of disturbed azea. The Williams Fork Strip Pit revegetation plans and revegetation <br />success criteria aze given in Exhibit 24, Williams Fork Strip Pit Reclamation Plan. The <br />Reclamation Plan Map (Map 29) indicates the planned post-mine uses (vegetation types) <br />and the reference areas for the reclaimed azeas. <br />A vegetation inventory was conducted at the Eagle Mine Complex in July of 1981. The <br />operator sampled three undisturbed big sagebrush stands adjacent to the surface <br />disturbance. The vegetation sample areas were similar in aspect, elevation, and soils to <br />the disturbed azeas. The information collected in that study is located in Section 2.04 of <br />the permit application. No threatened and/or endangered plant species were identified <br />within the disturbed area during the vegetation inventory. <br />Roughly one-third of the permit area is covered by croplands. RAG-EC has divided the <br />croplands into two categories: 1) irrigated hayfields in the Williams Fork River bottom <br />azeas, and 2) dryland wheat, found on cleazed hillsides which were once sage- <br />dominated. Productivity data is provided for the irrigated hayfields on Table 69 of the <br />permit application. Wheat production is given in Table 70. <br />RAG-EC's approved Reclamation plan calls for reclaiming the surface disturbed areas <br />to the following four post-mining land uses: rangeland/wildlife habitat, cropland, and <br />pastureland. The Division has previously approved a revegetation plan and revegetation <br />success standards. <br />Revegetation success for cover and production in the Williams Fork Strip Pit will be <br />verified by making a statistical comparison between the rangeland reference azea and the <br />reclaimed azea. Woody plant density will be a minimum of 1,000 stems per acre, and <br />species diversity will be calculated based upon relative vegetation cover. On azeas of <br />the strip pit which had been disturbed prior to May 3, 1978, the standazd will be a <br />vegetative cover of 30 percent or greater (based on vegetation sampling of this area prior <br />to redisturbance). In addition to this standard, a letter from the local NRCS (formerly <br />29 <br />