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Iatroductioa <br />At the request of Mr. George V. Patterson, General Mine Manager, of Energy Fuels Coal, Inc. <br />this second year of the final two years of Phase III final bond release revegetation sampling was <br />conducted on the Raton Creek Mine located at Stazkville, Colorado. This sampling effort <br />involved the sampling of all of the reclamation at this site. Since the Raton Creek Mine has been <br />permitted using a technical standard, no Reference Area was sampled. <br />This sampling effort involved the sampling of approximately 28.4246 acres all of the final <br />reclamation areas at the Raton Creek Mine. These areas correspond to the main reclamation area <br />containing approximately 27.0683 acres and the SAE Topsoil Stockpile location containing <br />approximately 1.3563 acres. These areas are shown on the enclosed map entitled Raton Creek <br />Mine - 2005 Vegetation Transect Location Map. This revegetation monitoring effort was <br />conducted with the intention of satisfying the second yeaz of the final two years of the Phase III <br />monitoring requirement of the Final Bond Release revegetation sampling requirements for the <br />Raton Creek Mine. <br />Mr. Kent Crofts of IIvIE, who has conducted previous vegetation sampling efforts at the Raton <br />Creek Mine, along with various other existing and proposed mine sites in southern Colorado in <br />the past 26 years, directly supervised all field investigations. Assisting in this sampling effort <br />was Mr. Aaron Hailing who acted as field GPS technician and was responsible for determining <br />all of the traosect locations using the Trimble Model Pro XRS Global Positioning System. Both <br />individuals assisted with the field sampling and data analysis. <br />Methods <br />Maps, in both electronic and hard paper format of the reclaimed areas at the Raton Creek Mine <br />sampled in this revegetation monitoring effort were supplied by Mr. George Patterson, General <br />Mine Manager of Energy Fuels Coal, Inc., who also delineated to the field crews, the exact <br />extent of the reclamation efforts at the Raton Creek Mine. The specific sampling methodologies <br />used in this evaluation aze those found in the Division's "Guidelines with Land Use and <br />Vegetation Requirements of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board fog Coal Mining" <br />issued in June of 1988 and the "Guidelines Regarding Selected Coal Mine Bond Release <br />Issues" issued April 18, 1995. Additional information on the current regulatory requirements <br />was obtained fivm the Division's "Proposed Colorado Program Amendments "for <br />"Revegetation, Land Use, Wildlife and Alluvial Valley Floors" issued March 14, 2003. <br />The specific methods used in the 2005 revegetation monitoring differ somewhat than those <br />utilized in the 2004 revegetation monitoring, where the newly proposed Revegetation, Land <br />Use, Wildlife and Alluvial Valley Floors and the reduced number of allowable transects was <br />employed. Prior to commencing the field sampling and during the preparation of this report, the <br />Permit monitoring requirements were examined and discussed with Mr. Patterson and Ms. Janet <br />Bins of the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) regarding the proposed <br />sampling methodologies and data analysis methods to be used. Ia addition, Kerr formally <br />