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INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: BYIZON WALKER FROM: JANLT BINNS ' SUBJECT: COI.OWYO C-198i 1 , -002 ANNUAL RECLAbfATION RGPOR'r, SF,F,U'rAG R~VIP.W DATE: 2/18/?005 CC: DAN FItiRNANllI'/. Colowyo LLC submitted the 2002 Annual Reclamation Report on March 31, 2003. The Division reviewed the report and sent the operator an adequacy letter on September 19, 2003. Several of the seed tags were illegible in the original submittal which resulted in the Division being unable to complete our review. The Division requested re-submittal of legible seed tags. The operator submitted responses to the Division's adequacy concerns on March 25, 2004. Legible seed tags were submitted for the 2002 reclamation. I have reviewed the resubmitted seed tags for Colowyo 2002 reclamation report. The operator did not provide the pounds of seed applied to each reclamation area as requested in my memo, dated September 19, 2003. As a result I made some assumptions. I used the Granite Seed Company's invoice to get the total pounds of seed. Then, I assumed that the 2002 seed from Granite Seed was applied at the same rate through the 2001 Re-do area (21.79 acres), 2002 Reclamation area EP043 (13.89 acres), and the 2002 Fire area (21.49 acres), so I divided the total pounds of seed invoiced by the proportional acreages. The 21.03 acres shrub area had a unique seed mix, so that acreage was not calculated in the proportional allocation. Other seed tags and invoices had notations regarding the location that particular seed was applied. Colorado experienced a state wide drought in 2002. This impacted availability of seed. Colowyo has an approved list of substitution species to use when the regulaz approved seed species are unavailable. The seed mix used on the 2002 Fire Area used seed from Wind River Seed Mix 1 and Mix 2, and Goble Seed. Species substitutions were made in agreement with the approved substitution list. Several species that were substituted were not included in either table. These species were Siberian wheatgrass, Orchardgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, Timothy, and Russian wildrye. None of these species are considered toxic or noxious. These species have been used in approved reclamation seed mixes previously on the site and are commonly accepted pasture grasses. Although some of the species have tendencies to be more aggressive than some native species, the operator included them in low enough amounts to not be a concern. Future substitutions need to be from approved species. Due to the extreme drought conditions and limited seed availability in 2002, this substitution is not a problem. Overall seeding rates were approximately twice the approved drill seeding rate. Broadcast seeding rates should be double that of drill seeding. This application rate is appropriate. Seed mix used to seed the 2002 reclamation azea, EP043, used seed from Granite Seed, Table 7 drill and table 7 broadcast mixes. Many of the approved Table2.05-7 species were unavailable. Species that required substitutions included; Mountain fescue, Pacific aster, Louisiana sage, Saskatoon serviceberry, and Mountain snowberry. Appropriate substitutions were made from approved Table 2.05-7 or Table 2.05-8. The seed mix