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• DISCUSSION <br />Cover <br />As can be seen in Figure 1, cover in the 1990 reclamation area would meet the cover <br />performance standard set in the Seneca II permit, since observed total vegetation cover of 60.2 <br />percent exceeds the standard of 51.8 percent. <br />Over the period of record (1987 to 1997), average vegetation cover (see below) in the <br />reclaimed areas was highest in 1987 (72.1 percent), slightly lower in 1988 (70.9 percent), <br />substantially lower in 1989 (48.1 percent), somewhat higher in 1990 (60.2 percent), yet higher <br />in 1991 (65.4 percent), declined somewhat in 1992 (60.1 percent), rose again in 1993 (62.6 <br />percent), dropped rather steeply in 1994 (52.8 percent), rebounded sharply in 1995 (65.7 <br />percent), declined again in 1996 (55.0 percent), and rose again in 1997 (60.2 percent). (See <br />1997 cover tables in Appendix 1 and the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, <br />1995, and 1996 Revegetation Monitoring Reports for the Seneca II Mine). These average <br />• figures admittedly are calculated from varying numbers of monitored areas and areas of <br />different ages, but, inasmuch as a range of old to new reclamation of both the Wadge and Wolf <br />Creek areas has been sampled each year, these data may tend to suggest trends: <br />Total Vegetation Cover <br />AREA 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 <br />ALL 72.1 70.9 48.1 60.2 65.4 60.1 62.6 52.8 65.7 55.0 60.2 <br />Wadge Pasture --- 79.1 70.6 65.4 78.6 73.2 77.5 61.0 78.2 69.7 -- <br />Mt. Br. Ref. 89.8 85.3 80.1 78.0 85.7 74.9 82.2 63.4 79.0 82.6 84.4 <br />Sgbr. Ref. 88.0 76.3 63.2 72.1 78.6 70.0 70.4 66.8 74.8 69.2 80.2 <br />Over this ten year period of record, it can be seen that there was an apparent peak of cover at <br />the beginning, after which a large sag corresponding to drought conditions occurred; after ten <br />years, and six years after the "end" of drought conditions, cover has yet to reach the 1987 levels. <br />The reference area data also show that cover values in 1987 were the highest of the eleven year <br />. record in both reclaimed and reference areas and that values since then have not returned to <br />those levels. <br />12 <br />