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Schmidt respectfully requests that the Land Board ask the owners of all active oil and gas lines clearly mark the lines so other parties will know where the lines are located. Having these lines marked will enhance the safety of other users of the land. Other Islands and Riparian Forest Recovery: Another concern of the Corps was with the recovery of the riparian forest, as well as the islands. This would not be such a severe problem if it were not for the impact of cattle browsing the new cottonwoods. Although slight recovery of the forest is occurring in spite of the cattle impact, that recovery is no where close to what is needed to see full recovery and perpetuation of the forest along the stream. The number of new trees that actually have a potential to become mature trees is faz less than that required to replace losses of older, senescent trees. Considerations of corrective actions were various. The Land Board cancelled the grazing lease, but the lessee was able to obtain a stay of eviction through the courts. Therefore, the grazing impact continues until the case is settled in the courts which may not occur unti12007. Fencing of the entire stream corridor, except for a few specific crossings, was considered but the cost and maintenance problems of such fencing was considered prohibitive. Furthermore, fencing the entire corridor would likely interfere with migration patterns of the resident Pronghorn herd which frequently move back and forth across the stream corridor. SchmidYs ecological consultant suggested utilizing fenced islands of suitable woody vegetation habitats along the stream. This would provide a protected reservoir of plant materials to provide a means for rapid expansion of the forest if the cattle were ever removed from the land. Although this approach does not preserve the riparian forest, it does provide a means to preserve sufficient young plant materials to effect expansion in the future. Five locations were selected with the concurrence of the Corps and the Land Board. These ranged from a young habitat in Section 25 where both willow and cottonwood aze beginning to take hold to older azeas further north where larger plants aze present but have been severely damaged by the cattle. These azeas were fenced with 3-strand bazbed wire and will be analyzed annually for documenting the vegetation development. Analysis will be quantitative primarily monitoring woody plant biomass changes as indicated by measurements of cover and height along permanent line intercepts established to cross the primary orientation of the woody vegetation stands. Those stands generally run in a north-south direction, more or less pazalleling the stream. Thus, the line intercepts will generally run in an east-west direction. The first measurements will be made during the summer and eazly fall of 2006 and then at least once a yeaz thereafter until the condition established by agreement between the Corps of Engineers and Schmidt is achieved. The cost of the fencing was $16,000 which was shazed equally between Schmidt and Jones Fine Sand. MINING ACTIVITY IN THE LAST YEAR: 1. Depth of mining - All mining is fully within the limitations. Some locations in the pits west of the main road aze quite deep because the sand goes that deep, but as has been shown in the past, these can be backfilled and graded to the proper standazds. Because no original elevations were taken to determine the precise pre-mining topography, as will be done in completely new areas, it is difficult to determine exactly what the actual depth is compared to the original elevation. All other mining azeas aze well within the limits. Status report for 2006 (July 15, 2006) Page 6 of 13