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,• Introduction At the request of Mr. George Patterson, General Mine Manager of Energy Fuels Coal Inc., and agent of the Kerr Coal Company (Kerr), Phase III bond release revegetation sampling was conducted during the summer of 2006 on various reclaimed areas and corresponding reference areas located at the Kerr Coal Company - Maa Mine located approximately eight miles east of Walden, Jackson County, Colorado. Phase III revegetation monitoring at the mine site was conducted on the Pre-1986 Reclamation Block which according to the 2004 Annual Reclamation Report Map, contains a total of 109.9 acres and is located near the north-central portion of the main mine azea and in four smaller pieces located to the east of the existing mine access road. For the 1995 Reclamation Block there is a total of 175.5 acres of reclamation located in these three blocks. The main block is located at the southern end of the mine area and two smaller blocks, one located north of Jackson County Road # 29 on the south edge of Bush Draw and a small strip located on the east side of the mine access road, just to the west of the old mine office building. The 1996 Reclamation Block contains a total of 57.9 acres and is located in a single lazge block on the northern edge of the old mine azea, immediately to the south of Jackson County Road # 29 and to the west of the mine access road. The Big Sagebrush and Alkali Sagebrush Reference Areas as shown on Map 18, Kea Mine Area Vegetation Map found in the Ken Coal Pemut were also sampled. The locations of theses specific reclamation blocks aze depicted on the Kerr Coal Company's • Annual Reclamatioa Report Maps and are reproduced on the enclosed vegetation transect location maps. This revegetation monitoring effort was prepared with the intention of satisfying the second yeaz of the final two years of the Phase III monitoring requirement. Mr. Kent Crofts of IIvIE, who has conducted numerous previous vegetation sampling efforts at the Man Mine, and numerous other mine sites in northwest Colorado in the past 29 years, directly supervised all feld investigations. Assisting in this sampling effort was Mr. Aaron Hailing, who acted as the field party chief and field GPS technician and was responsible for determining all of the transect locations using the Trimble Model Pm XRS Global Positioning System. Both individuals performed all of the field sampling and data analysis. Methods Maps, in both electronic and hazd paper format of all of the reclamation blocks and reference azeas to be sampled in this monitoring effort were supplied by Mr. Patterson, who also delineated to the crews in the field, the exact extent of the reclamation efforts at the Man Mine. The specific sampling methodologies used in this evaluation are those found in the Division's "Guidelines with Land Use and Vegetation Requirements ojthe Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining" issued in June of 1988 and the "Guidelines Regarding Selected Coal Mine Bond Release Issues" issued April 18, 1995. In addition to these guidelines, •