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1. REVEGETATION MONITORING <br />Requirement <br />The following monitoring plan has been developed to determine <br />the initial success of reclamation practices. <br />- Herbaceous vegetation sampling will be conducted during <br />the peak of the growing season, late June to early <br />August. <br />- Reclaimed areas in the second growing season will be <br />sampled individually. Reclaimed areas in the third <br />growing season will be combined and sampled as one area. <br />- Herbaceous cover, herbaceous production, diversity and <br />shrub density information will be collected. <br />- The sampling techniques will be comparable to those for <br />sampling of reference areas. <br />- The sampling conducted for the monitoring plan will not <br />necessarily meet statistical adequacy. A number of <br />samples will be collected to obtain information that is <br />representative of the conditions of the revegetated area. <br />- Where possible, all sampling sites will be randomly <br />located in reclaimed areas. <br />- No specific or general revegetation criteria will be set <br />for the period prior to bond release; however, the data <br />will be used to monitor trend of vegetation <br />establishment. <br />- If the revegetated community has no major deficiencies <br />after the third year of sampling, further sampling will <br />be conducted every third year thereafter. <br />Response <br />Initial vegetation monitoring of reclaimed areas has confirmed <br />the success of initial reclamation efforts. Refer to previous <br />Annual Reports for details of this sampling. Further sampling <br />is now required only every 3 years, therefore, sampling was <br />not required at HG in 1990. <br />However, since the revegetation efforts visually appeared to <br />meet cover requirements for Phase II bond release, sampling <br />was conducted to confirm our observations and to meet partial <br />bond release criteria. <br />1 <br />