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Producdon in the cropland azeas will be evaluated by measuring grain production or using operators <br />• records in the reclaimed azea and comparing it to the current county average wheat production figures <br />determined from Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ABCs) records for Routt <br />County. The reclaimed wheat cropland will be sampled separately from the adjacent wheat cropland. <br />Unit area harvest data will be collected from the reclaimed area to determine wheat production <br />comparison values. Reclamation shall be considered successful when production equals at least 90 <br />percent of the current county average with 90 percent statistical confidence. Because cropland in the <br />area is summer fallowed, the last two consecutive growing seasons fox production measurements will <br />be in years 8 and 10 of the extended liability period. <br />Species Diversity <br />Since the time that the diversity standards for the original toast Mine permit were proposed, a more <br />comprehensive consideration of the nature of plant diversity on reclaimed azeas as compazed to un- <br />mined azeas (reference azeas) has been completed. The result is the set of proposed standards below: <br />Background. The bulk of reclatnation sites have used a seeding strategy that emphasized grasses to <br />• assure adequate erosion control, and even when those grasses are native species, the competitive <br />advantage of this lifefotm over fortis and woody plants is evident at many mine locations. In the short <br />and medium term, it seems unavoidable that speaes diversity will be less than that of most un-mined <br />comparison sites (or baseline conditions). <br />This is not because of faulty seed mixes, or poor seeding technique, or any particular short-coming of <br />planting a regraded/topsoiled site. One of the lessons of the large-scale experiment represented by <br />mine revegetation since the late 1970's is that given decent topsoil and reasonably favorable moisture <br />condifions, the presence of species other than grasses is not subject to a "plant them and they will <br />come" direct approach. Rather, the circumstances that Iead (or have lead in the pre-existing <br />vegetation) to the opportunity for the 6nn establishment of these other lifefotrns and speaes aze <br />probably themselves diverse and (at least until we understand more) non-constmctible. <br />One of the interesting insights gained from sequential annual visits to Reference Areas is that even <br />within an established long-reap native vegetation, there is fluctuation of the presence of speaes. In <br />particulaz there is a tendenry for many native species to manifest themselves in assoaation with stress <br />in the form of drought. <br />• <br />There is a solid prospect that a slow increase in the abundance of these plants will accrue as the scars <br />PR-02 41 Revised 01/06 <br />