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xAS/G =Average herbaceous production, alkali sagebrush/greasewood <br />x44 = Average herbaceous production, western wheatgrass/alkali sagebrush • <br />zAM = Average herbaceous production alkali meadow <br />Ta = Total of relative community types used in comparison, premine area <br />Production in the cropland areas will be evaluated by measuring grain production or us.i ng <br />operators records in the reclaimed area and comparing it to the current county average <br />wheat production figures determined from Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation <br />Service (ASCS) records for Routt County. The reclaimed wheat cropland will be sampled <br />separately from the adjacent wheat cropland. Unit area harvest data will be collected <br />from the reclaimed area to determine wheat production comparison values. Reclamation shall <br />be considered successful when production equals at least 90 percent of the current county <br />average with 90 percent statistical confidence. Because cropland in the area is summer <br />followed, the lest two consecutive growing seasons for production measurements will be in <br />years 8 and 10 of the extended liability period. <br />Species Diversit y. Diversity in reclaimed areas will be based on a performance standard <br />reflecting evaluation of baseline information for the Yoast Hine permit area and <br />monitoring data from reference areas and reclaimed areas collected since 1987 at the <br />nearb <br />Seneca II Mine • <br />y . <br />Diversity will not be evaluated in the shrub and tree establishment sites. These areas <br />are to be developed using measures that control competing vegetation in order to maximize <br />woody plant establishment. These necessary measures will restrict diversity initially. <br />Diversity for reclaimed areas is difficult to assess since these areas are quite <br />dissimilar to the adjacent native communities relative to those parameters which are <br />representative of advanced successional status (i.e., et subclimax or climax). In the <br />native communities these parameters are diversity and woody plant density. Furthermore, <br />diversity in reclaimed areas is strongly influenced by grading and topsoiling procedures, <br />revegetetion techniques, applied seed mixes, climatic patterns during the liability <br />period, end the length of time for successional processes to act upon the reclaimed <br />community. <br />Observations of reclaimed lands indicate these areas have the potential to be more <br />representative of native sagebrush types rather than the mixed brush, aspen, steep <br />mountain brush, or mesic drainage types. Monitoring data supports these observations to • <br />46 Revised 06/19/95 <br />