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39 (~ These factors bring to mind questions such as: when should grazing begin after rehabilitation, how should fences be placed to control grazing, what degree of utili- zation can be permitted without harm to plant vigor and sand stability, and what can be done to replace the forage lost during mining and rehabilitation? There is more than one way to resolve those questions, but the final plan should provide mutual understanding between the company, the ranchers, and the Soil Conservation Service. Consider, for example, the question: when should grazing begin after rehabilitation? Unless regulations require protection for several years, the best answer is a composite of biological, economic, and logistical factors. Because the management and durability of rehabilitated areas needs to be developed and demonstrated at an early time, we would like to propose the initiation of carefully controlled grazing in late summer or fall in the year after seeding. But, grazing of newly seeded areas in common with larger areas of either existing range or of older rehabili- tated range is hazardous because the new stands attract grazing animals and, thus, suffer excessive grazing, which reduces the tall-grass component. These factors suggest an intensive plan of fencing each seeded parcel separately (. and of keeping it separate for about four years before com- bining the parcels into larger units. Economic factors must be considered at this point because the grazing obtained, when the annual increment of land rehabilitated is expected to be about 30 acres, would not justify much cost in fencing and water development. With such an inten- sive plan, justification would derive largely from the value of management experience and demonstration of vege- tative stability. A less intensive plan would involve fencing areas of, say, 160 acres or more to exclude livestock during mining and rehabilitation. Grazing then would not begin until the whole paddock had been rehabilitated and the newest parcel was fully stabilized. Furthermore, the area should be mowed in early spring to a stubble height of about 6 inches to promote uniform distribution of grazing. With this plan, the value of management experience obtained is diminished and delayed, and the value of lost grazing increases, with increase in size of area so treated. Utilization standards should be developed as rehabili- tated areas are placed under grazing. Those standards . should specify the height and/or amount of herbage that must not be grazed -- that is, the amount of herbage needed to maintain sand stability, vigor of forage plants, and l balance between short and tall grasses. We can provide only preliminary standards, as follows: the average height