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1995/96 Reclamation <br />The first bench of Peak #3, the most southerly of the three peaks, was created in 1995. <br />The bench was backfilled and topsoiled in late 1995 and planted with the permit approved <br />grass mixture. In April, 40 Douglas Fir and 5 Ponderosa Pine seedlings were planted on this <br />bench. Although the drought has limited the grass germination, the tree seedlings are doing <br />well. Polymer was added to the soil when the vees were planted. Although the Enhanced <br />Reclamation plan will plant considerable amounts of trees on various areas of the quarry, this <br />tree planting was part of the permitted plan. <br />This is the first time the new bench production and reclamation methods described in <br />the most recent amendment was applied to the quarry. Although this bench is in granite, it <br />provided a good basis for testing the methods. The method seems to work quite well, although <br />some minor modifications will be needed for bench production in limestone. These <br />modifications mainly involve slight changes in the mining methods when a final bench is <br />created. <br />1996/1997 Affected Land <br />It is not expected that during the next year any additional land will be disturbed. The <br />actual mining locations will shift very slightly from those shown on the map. The main change <br />will be a shifting of the most northerly mining area shown on the map. This area will shift <br />perhaps a hundred feet to the south, probably less. <br />In a sense, during this next year there will appear to be some high quality, "instant" <br />reclamation done. Note that the southern mining area shown on the map is actually extracting a <br />ridge. Although the presence of this ridge is not very apparent when viewed from the east, it is <br />there. The ridge obscures a hillside west of the ridge and along the west permit boundary. The <br />vegetation on this hillside is being carefully protected. Although the mining of this ridge <br />appears to be an expansion of the mine, it actually is occurring on previously disturbed land, <br />except for the first bench which was reclaimed as described above. As this ridge is removed <br />the edge of the disturbance will appear, when viewed from the east, to move down the hillside. <br />That is, it will look like the operation in this area has become smaller. Once the ridge is <br />completely removed, views from the east will reveal the undisturbed hillside currently behind <br />the ridge. Thus it will look like "instant" reclamation back to the natural state. <br />In the permitted plan, this hillside, which will become visible in the next year or two, <br />was expected to be disturbed. After starting the mining on Peak #3, it was recognized that <br />disturbing the hillside was not actually needed. Therefore, although this was anticipated to be <br />affected land, in fact it will not be affected by anything other than the small access road which <br />has been present since before Castle Concrete acquired the operation. That road, once it is no <br />longer needed, will be backfilled and reclaimed. <br />Some concern has been expressed by the public over the mining in this area and what <br />appeared to be an expansion of the mine. In fact, this "expansion" was planned and is <br />permitted. However, the amount of expansion has been reduced and ultimately will make the <br />operation appear to be slightly smaller than it currently is. <br />Annual Report Pikeview Quarry 95/96 M-77-211 Page 2 <br />