_INSPECTION - C1982057 ‎(36)‎

• Permit No: C1982057
• IBM Index Class Name: INSPECTION
• Doc Name: Inspection Reports
• Inspection Date: 10/16/2008
• Email Name: DTM
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

III. COMMENTS - COMPLIANCE
Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made
during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection
and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action.
General Comments; Revegetation
This was a partial mine site inspection conducted by Dan Mathews and Sandy Brown of DRMS. There was no
SCC representative present during the inspection, although Dennis Jones of SCC was contacted at the mine
office prior to the inspection. The focus of the inspection was to observe revegetation test plots installed last fall
within two fenced woody plant establishment areas at the mine. The first plots observed were within the planting
area located on the"A" Pit reclaimed highwall slope southwest of Stock Pond T-5, the other plots were located
within a planting area located in the South Extension Area, near Stock Pond T-26. The test plots were installed
by researchers with the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research (RMRS)Station and Colorado State
University, for an experiment partially funded by OSM and partially by Seneca Coal Company. The tour of the
test plots was conducted by the lead researcher, Dr. Bob Musselman of RMRS, along with Lance Asherin of
RMRS, Dr. Frederic(Skip)Smith of CSU, and Dr. Wayne Shepperd of CSU (formerly of RMRS).
The experiment is to a large degree an extension of previous aspen establishment research conducted at the
mine. The previous experiment focused on evaluation of aspen establishment under varying irrigation rates, on
differing soil treatments, with and without control of competitive vegetation, at a single location. The current
experiment was expanded to include both aspen and serviceberry, using nursery grown planting stock(1 gal.
potted aspen and tubeling serviceberry), with and with out use of weed control fabric strips. Test plots included
multiple randomly located rows of planted aspen and separate rows of serviceberry, with and without weed
control fabric. Plots were installed in multiple locations at both the Seneca II-W and Seneca Yoast mine permit
reclaimed areas. The experimental focus on use of weed control fabric was based on the significant effect of
competitive vegetation control on aspen survival and growth observed in the original aspen study, and the
successful use of weed control fabric that has been observed for establishment of various shrub and tree
species, particularly with respect to windbreak and shelter-belt establishment in eastern Colorado.
In the first test plots observed, treatment effects were not visually pronounced, due primarily to the fact that a
severe infestation of grasshoppers over the summer had defoliated planted trees, as well as most other
broadleaf vegetation in the fenced planting area. Success of seeding and planting conducted by SCC in
portions of the fenced area outside the test plots appears to have been limited. There is a pretty heavy
infestation of annual brome throughout the fenced area, and retreatment of the site(with the exception
of the RMRS test plots) may be warranted. Some deer tracks were observed within the fenced area;
perimeter fencing should be checked and repaired as necessary.
In the test plots located near T-26 in the South Extension Area, visual differences between the plantings with
weed fabric and without were much more apparent, particularly with respect to the planted aspen trees, which
exhibited uniformly better 1"year growth in the weed control rows than in the non-weed control rows. It was
observed that there was good initial establishment of seeded perennial forbs and shrubs (primarily big
sagebrush and bitterbrush) in the non-experimental portions of the fenced planting area.
Initial results from the Vt year of the study(considering both the II-W plots and Yoast plots that were also
observed) indicate that the use of weed control fabric may have a very positive effect on growth and survival of
planted trees and shrubs. If the early trends are confirmed over the life of the study, use of the weed control
fabric may need to be incorporated as a standard practice. In fact, based on the fairly dramatic initial results
observed to date, we would recommend that strong consideration be given to the use of weed control fabric in
woody plantings conducted from now forward, especially for aspen.
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