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Chapter V <br /> life of the mine. Appendix V-G-1 contains letters from MLRD, dated October 12 and <br /> Nov. 8, 1982 that outline in some detail the program that Mid-Continent must follow <br /> in determining revegetation success standards in Coal Basin. Also in this appendix <br /> is a copy of the plan for the three vegetation test plots in Coal Basin. <br /> Scope of Work - Coal Processing Waste Pile <br /> Herbaceous cover and production will be measured <br /> on the 2:1 slopes of the coal processing waste pile. <br /> Only those areas seeded prior to 1981 will be <br /> sampled. Woody plant density need not be <br /> sampled. Either cover or production data must be <br /> collected by species. There will be two variables in <br /> the collection of this data; depth of topsoil and age <br /> of vegetation. Topsoil depths will have to be tested <br /> prior to vegetation sampling. Sampling will then be <br /> done by three soil depth classifications in each age <br /> group (such as 0-6 inches, 6-12 inches, and greater <br /> than 12 inches). The areas sampled by soil depth <br /> increments will be determined following the <br /> collection of soil depth data. <br /> Herbaceous cover will be sampled by the line <br /> • intercept or point frame (point intercept) method with <br /> a minimum of 50 points per sampling unit. Four <br /> units will be sampled in each soil depth group in <br /> each age group. Each sampling unit will be located <br /> randomly by use of a grid system. <br /> Production will be sampled by clipping all the <br /> current year's growth above a height of 5 mm in a <br /> 0.25m2 quadrat. Five randomly located quadrats will <br /> be clipped in each subsection of each age group. <br /> Following collection, the clipped material will be oven <br /> dried at 105 degrees C for 24 hours, then weighed <br /> to the nearest 0.1 gram. <br /> The cover and production data will then be <br /> compared to the aspen shrubland reference area <br /> data to determine if success standards can be met. <br /> The cover and production data will be analyzed <br /> using a two-way analysis of variance. The data will <br /> be tested to determine if there are any significant <br /> differences between soil depths and between age <br /> groups, and also whether there is a significant <br /> interaction between age and soil depth. <br /> 39 <br />