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• Methods <br />Maps, in both electronic and hard paper format of all of the reclamation blocks and reference <br />areas to be sampled in this monitoring effort were supplied by Mr. George Patterson, General <br />Mine Manager of Energy Fuels Coal Inc., who also delineated to the crews in the field, the exact <br />extent of the reclamation efforts at the Maa Mine. The specific sampling methodologies used in <br />this evaluation are those found in the Division's "Guidelines with Land Use and Vegetation <br />Requirements of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining" issued in <br />June of 1988 and the "Guidelines Regarding Selected Coal Mine Bond Release Issues" issued <br />April 18, 1995. In addition to these guidelines, the proposed regulation changes issued on March <br />27, 2003 entitled "Revegetation, Land Use, Wildlife and AUuvial Valley Floors" and formally <br />adopted September 14, 2005 by the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) and <br />corresponding documents were used with respect to sample adequacy calculations and proposed <br />statistical comparisons. The corresponding vegetation maps showing the locations of the three <br />reference areas sampled in connection with this sampling effort are found on Map 18, Kea Mine <br />Area Vegetation and Map 19, Ken Tipple Area Vegetation were used to delineate the reference <br />areas. The specific limits of the specific reclamation units sampled were taken from the 2004 <br />Annual Reclamation Report Maps for both the Man Mine Area and the Kea Tipple Area. <br />Prior to commencing the field sampling and during the preparation of this report, the Pernut <br />monitoring requirements were reviewed and discussed with Mr. Patterson and Mr. Jerry <br />Nettleton, formerly with Montgomery, Watson Harza Inc. and Ms. Sandy Brown of the DMG <br />i regarding the proposed sampling methods and data analysis methods to be used. Agreement on <br />the sampling methodology used in this evaluation as well as permission to use the proposed <br />program amendments was obtained from the DMG prior to initiating field sampling. In this <br />evaluation, the vegetation parameters of production, plant cover, species diversity and shrub <br />density were sampled. These data were then utilized to evaluate the successfulness of <br />revegetation efforts with respect to cover, forage production, species diversity, and shrub <br />density. <br />Transact Locations. To ensure that all of the areas within each corresponding reclamation block <br />and reference area sampled, had an equal chance of being sampled, each proposed sample area <br />was treated as a sample unit and a totally randomized sampling effort was implemented. <br />Utilizing the original vegetation maps, showing the specific reference area locations and 2004 <br />reclamation maps prepared by Ken and our GPS unit, the extreme north, south, east and west <br />boundaries of each site sampled were converted to the 1927 Colorado State Plan Northern Zone <br />(NAD 27) coordinate system. The interval used in the state plan coordinate system is based on <br />foot increments. Given the typical real-time accuracy of this GPS unit of plus or minus 18 <br />inches, all of the transact locations were field located at a sub-meter accuracy. <br />Once the boundaries of the reclaimed area or reference were identified, then using a specially <br />prepared computer program which generates random coordinates, the potential transact location <br />coordinates were identified. These coordinates were then entered into the GPS unit and the <br />transact location starting points were marked in the field. At each transact location starting point, <br />• <br />