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RECLAMATION PLAN <br />materials minimize capillary rise of soil moisture thus reducing salt near the <br />• surface. Of course salt can concentrate in the coarse subsoil, but that <br />generally occurs anyway. Using a coarse subsoil will minimize salt <br />concentrations in the topsoil until such time as the vegetation can become <br />established and salt removal systems brought into effect by the natural <br />invasion of certain salt concentrating species through successional processes. <br />In very wet years, the amount of moisture accumulated in both the <br />subsoil and the soil will exceed the materials ability to hold that. moisture. <br />In those years ephemeral "springs" may develop near the edge of the mined and <br />reclaimed area. In time some of these "springs" will produce highly localized <br />areas of moderately saline seeps. These seeps do not cause problems. They do <br />increase species diversity in the overall vegetation of the area. Halophytes <br />typically invade these areas, but because such seep developments only occur <br />once or twice about every decade they are more of a curiosity than a problem. <br />The seep mechanism though allows a flushing of the salts from the subsoil <br />thereby reducing any problems of intense salt buildup in the soil. This helps <br />maintain vegetation quality. <br />Fertilization of these soils may be necessary, but no recorm~endations <br />can be made as to the precise types and amounts of fertilizers that will 6e <br />needed. Soil testing is reliable for phosphorous and potassium (potassium is <br />rarely deficient in Colorado), but are not reliable for nitrogen. This is <br />especially true when the main species to be gro~.n in the revegetation have low <br />nitrogen requirements. Nitrogen recommendations in soil tests are best <br />applied to agriculture and have very limited use men native grasses that have <br />low nutritional needs are grown. <br />Fertilization will be used in the following instances: <br />1. If soil tests show phosphorous and/or potassium are deficient they <br />will be incorporated into the growth medium prior to planting. <br />2. If vegetation indicates chlorosis as a result of nitrogen deficiency <br />(using accepted growth and leaf color indicators to assess nitrogen <br />deficiency) then nitrogen will be added at a minimum rate of 20 pounds per <br />acre, but not more than 40 pounds per acre. Intensive nitrogen fertilization <br />in vegetation largely composed of warm season grasses forces vegetational <br />shifts toward cool season grasses and encourages weed growth. This is also <br />true of irrigation. <br />Page 17 <br />