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• Section 780.181b) Continued. reclaimed area account for at least 54 percent of the plant composition but not more than 75 percent of the plant composition. At least one 111 of the three (31 dominant species shall be a forb and none of the three dominant plant species shall comprise less than three (31 Percent of the total plant composition. The woody plant density standard for both the Kerr Mine and Loadout areas was specified by permit stipulation in 1982. The initial standard proposed by Kerr and accepted by the MLRD, set a woody plant density standard at 2,000 woody plants per acre. Although Kerr originally proposed to restore 2,000 stems per acre, it has become apparent that this level of woody plant density cannot be achieved within a reasonable time frame and may not be desirable in view of postmining land use objectives. Pursuant to the requirements of Rule 4.15.817) Kerr proposes that a shrub density of 1,500 stems per acre, with high density shrub stands interspersed with low density stands with open meadows, be established as the standard for evaluation of the Mine Area revegetation success. The existing approved reference areas are representative of the associated plant community and soils types as discussed in Section 779.19 and 779.21. The exact locations of the existing reference areas are depicted on the Kerr Mine Area Vegetation map, (Map 181, and the Kerr Tipple Area Vegetation Map, IMap 9a1. A summary of vegetation data for areas to be disturbed and reference areas is presented on Table 48, Statistical Summary of Vegetation types. This summary demonstrates the statistical similarities between baseline conditions for disturbance areas and the corresponding reference areas. If a specific reclaimed area can be correlated to a single predisturbance plant community, then Kerr proposes to directly evaluate revegetation success for that area using data from the corresponding TR-19 780-84b Revised 12/99