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Grading was to be: Appropriate to the post-mining land use; a physically attractive <br />surrounding; and, completed to control erosion and siltation of the affected area, surrounding <br />property, and water courses. The Board could require terracing. <br />2. All available topsoil was to be removed and replaced on the backfilled and graded area. <br />3. Revegetation had to "establish a diverse, effective, and permanent vegetative cover native to <br />the area of land that was affected and was to be capable of self-regeneration and plant <br />succession without dependence on irrigation, soil amendments or fertilizer, at least equal in <br />extent of cover to the natural vegetation of the area prior to any mining." Introduced species <br />could be utilized on a temporary basis as a method of preparing the land for establishment of <br />native species. <br />4. Bond release required the Board to affirmatively find that reclamation was successful and <br />complete. This judgment was to be based on completion of the reclamation plan, compliance <br />with the rules, and the land's capability to sustain the planned land use. The Board could <br />require grazing to gauge tolerance to pressure and could release the bond in whole or in part. <br />All of these provisions were evaluated as reclamation requirements for this bond release inspection, <br />with the exception of Item 2 listed above for the following reasons. The Reclamation Board Rules <br />became effective February 25, 1976 and required all available topsoil was to be removed and replaced <br />on the backfilled and graded area. The Colorado Open Mining Land Reclamation Act of 1973 <br />required that whenever possible, the operator was to retain topsoil for reclamation and prior to this <br />there was no requirement for topsoil salvage. It is unclear from the bond release application materials <br />or other prior documentation to determine the exact timeframe of disturbance, mining and <br />reclamation. As stated in the bond release application, the area of mining within the Pre-Law parcel <br />was disturbed prior to February 25, 1976 and therefore no topsoil was salvaged or replaced on the <br />Pre-Law disturbance. Therefore, it was determined that topsoil salvage and replacement was not an <br />absolute requirement for the Pre-Law lands and this was not made a specific requirement for release <br />of bond liability. There was some topsoil replaced in the Pre-law lands along a road corridor and this <br />is discussed below under Section III of this document. <br />6 <br />