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DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS OF SUCCESS for the HAWK'S NEST MINE INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~ ~~ .II'^/ 11,9&'•; i^.-~.i::n ~~ ~,. c1CMgTIpN plVlryp, -~' ~~ ~!afural Resources In compliance to stipulation 8 of Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division's(CMLRD) Findings of Compliance for Western Slope Carbon's (W SC) Hawk's Nest Mine, the following response is submitted. This document includes the identification of comparison areas to be used in establishing a standard of success for vegetation types affected by surface disturbances at the Hawk's Nest Mine. Accompanying the geographical identification of the comparison areas is a discussion on the criteria used in selecting an appropriate site and unique properties of each. Also presented in this document are details of the methodology to be used to sample the comparison areas, analyze the data, and criteria to be used for determining revegetation success. COMPARISON AREA DESCRIPTION The major vegetation types affected by surface disturbances at Hawk's Nest Mine are an oakbrush type and a narrow river terrace type on the southerly exposed slope of the canyon. The oakbrush type extends from the upper portion of the disturbed slopes of the canyon to the river edge. The oakbrush type is dominated by gambel oak with understory shrubs such as, Oregon grape, woods rose, snowberry and in more moist sites chokecherry. Due to abundant precipitation in recent years and previous land management practices many sites within the upland oakbrush type are dominated by cheatgrass and an annual mustard. A narrow band of riparian vegetation is often present along the north bank of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Adjacent to the river and interupting the oakbrush type is a river terrace vegetation characterized by the presence of cottonwoods, birch, and a heavy grass-forb understory. Comparison areas were selected in the upland oakbrush type and in the river terrace type. These two types represent the spectrum of potential vegetation cover and productivity of disturhed areas found at the mine site. The comparison area in the upland oakbrush type is located north and west of the east portal of the Hawk's Nest Mine on the north side of hiway 133(see attached map). it is located in an open oakbrush site with a moderate amount of perennial grass and forb species. Since the area will be reestablished to a primarily non-woody vegetation type and no shrub density has been set for the upland sites, the most open oakbrush type which still maintained a perennial herbaceous understory was selected for a comparison area. The site selected is characterized by the presence of several grass species, perennial fortis, and occassional mottes of oakbrush with associated understory shrubs. Although this area does contain some cheatgrass, the proportion of annual species present is considerably less than that found in other open oakbrush areas. This