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• Introduction <br />At the request of The Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company (P & M Coal), this <br />inventory of the successfulness of revegetation efforts on five reclaimed areas and two reference <br />areas at the Edna Mine was conducted. The five reclaimed sites sampled included the Conveyor <br />Reclaimed Area, the Moffat Reclaimed Area, the West Ridge Topsoiled Reclaimed Area, the <br />West Ridge Non-Topsoiled Reclaimed Area and the Facilities Reclaimed Area. These reclaimed <br />azeas were reclaimed at various times and using different reclamation methodologies. This <br />revegetation monitoring effort was prepared with the intention of satisfying the interim <br />revegetation sampling requirements for all of the reclaimed azeas sampled with the exception of <br />the Conveyor Reclaimed area, where the data might be used to satisfy the vegetation standazd <br />associated with the Industrial Land Use approved for this site. <br />The field investigations in this sampling effort were supervised by Mr. Kent Crofts of IME, who <br />has conducted several previous revegetation sampling efforts at the adjacent Energy Mine and on <br />numerous other sites in the Twenty Mile Basin for the past 22 years. Assisting in this sampling <br />effort was Mr. David Crofts, who acted as the field recorder and Mr. Micah Hailing, who was <br />responsible for the transect locations using the Trimble Model Pro XRS Global Positioning <br />System. All three individuals assisted with the field sampling and data analysis. <br />Methods <br />Maps of the five reclaimed areas and two reference areas sampled in this revegetation monitoring <br />• effort were supplied by P & M Coal and Mr. Brian Gontazek, the Senior Environmental Engineer <br />of P & M Coal, showed the field crew the exact extent of the reclamation efforts at the Edna <br />Mine. The specific sampling methodologies used in this evaluation aze those found in the <br />Division's "Guidelines with Land Use and Vegetation Requirements of the Colorado Mined <br />Land Reclamation Boazd for Coal Mining" issued in June of 1988 and the "Guidelines <br />Regarding Selected Coal Mine Bond Release Issues" issued April 18, 1995. Prior to <br />commencing the field sampling and during the prepazation of this report, the Permit monitoring <br />requirements were examined and discussions had with Mr. Gontarek and Ms. Janet Binns, of the <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology, regazding the proposed sampling methods and data <br />analysis methods to be used. Conceptual agreement on the sampling methodology used in this <br />evaluation was obtained prior to initiating field sampling as well as this identical sampling <br />methodology has been previously used and approved by the Division on various other mines. In <br />this evaluation, the vegetation pazameters of plant cover, species diversity and shrub density <br />were sampled. These data were then utilized to evaluate the successfulness of revegetation <br />efforts with respect to plant cover, species diversity, and shrub density of plant species. <br />Transect Locations. In order to ensure that each azea in the five reclaimed sites and two <br />reference azeas sampled had an equal chance of being sampled, a totally randomized sampling <br />effort was implemented. Utilizing the GPS unit, the extreme north, south, east and west <br />• <br />