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sampled to determine if it will be suitable for direct revegetation. The Sanborn Creek Trac[ <br />disturbance will be sampled in a similar fashion. If it is found that the surface material is not <br />suitable, the area will be topdressed with suitable materials obtained from excavation for <br />reestablishment of the Elk Creek drainage from a borrow area near the backYilled Elk Creek <br />access portals or from topsoil stockpiles. Suitable plant growth medium will be spread to a <br />thickness of six inches. The area will then be seeded with the approved seed mixture and <br />mulched at the rate of 4,000 pounds of straw per acre. Straw will be crimped along the contour. <br />Somerset Mining Company, now Oxbow Mining, Inc., conducted a detailed soil survey and <br />vegetation survey of the areas to be affected by development of the Sanborn Creek portals, haul <br />road and conveyor facilities. These surveys indicated that approximately 8,850 cubic yards of <br />soil could be salvaged from these areas and that vegetation in the portal azea and along the <br />conveyor/haul road corridor was substantially the same as the surrounding vegetative types. Soil <br />salvaged from these areas will be used for reclamation activities. However, soil on the Sanbom <br />Creek disturbance will not necessarily be replaced to the same original thickness, as discussed in <br />the Topsoil section below. <br />U.S. Steel conducted a vegetative survey of unaffected land adjacent to the surface-disturbed <br />areas for the purpose of developing a reclamation plan for the surface-disturbed area. A native <br />seed mix has been approved which is representative of the adjacent unaffected lands. The <br />surface will be returned to rangeland and wildlife habitat which is the present status of adjacent <br />lands and the pre-mining ]and use of the disturbed area. <br />12 <br />