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Salty Soil Remedial Program: Continued monitoring of the lands on the east end of the operation has shown interesting patterns of invasion of native species. It appears that switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) is a very significant invader and is continuing to expand rapidly, even onto dry south facing slopes. Of course, this species which prefers somewhat more moist ground, seems to have a different character on drier sites, but it grows well enough to flower and set seed even in those habitats. Also, alkali sacaton has shown considerable expansion and some of the wheatgrasses, particularly tall wheatgrass, have expanded somewhat. Unfortunately, some areas are still essentially devoid of grass and continue to be dominated by annual weeds. A mowing program will be initiated as soon as growth becomes vigorous in an attempt to prevent flowering of the annuals and thereby reduce the amount of seed available for continued growth. Unfortunately, the seed bank probably contains a high quantity of these annual weed seeds, but as those seeds tend to be fairly short lived, continued mowing should produce a reduction in viable seed and will reduce the ability of the annuals to produce dense populations in the future. Backfilling: Backfilling anions have continued in the last year. Nearly all of the backfilling concentrated on slope reconstruction around the north pit (see Map 3) in anticipation of changing the sealing structure from a compacted berm to a slurry wall. No action will be taken to install a slurry wall until about fa112002. A permit revision will be submitted to make that change prior to the slurry wall being installed. The slurry wall structure is currently being designed. Weed Control: A professional weed control contractor has been contacted and has developed a program to control noxious weeds on the site. These weeds are primarily white top (Cardaria sp.). This program in expected to be started in spring to very early summer in 2002. Annual Report Maps: The annual report maps include four maps this year. The format of the maps is the same as it was last year. Year 2002 Anticipated Activity: Mining will continue throughout the Amendment area. This mining will primarily concentrate on cleaning out the large amount of lefr over material from previous mining and will occur throughout the lands where slope reconstruction is not occurring. Monitoring of the revegetation program will also continue and additional adjustments made as indicated by examination. It is not expected that any additional reclamation of currently disturbed land will occur in the next year, other than continued backfilling of the west end lake with sediment from washing operations. Afrer completing the backfilling and slope reconstruction, final reclamation actions will ensue throughout the operation. This may occur late in the 2002 permit year, but not begin until early in the 2003 permit year. Transit Mix of Pueblo 2002 Annual Report M-1977-573 Pueblo West Pit Page 2 of 2