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3.0 RESULTS Tabular results of raw data for the aforementioned sampling efforts are presented at the rear of this document on Tables 3 through 21. However, summaries of the success comparisons are provided below in Table 1 and Charts 1 through 5. Perusal of Table 1 gives a quick indication of the overall success of the various revegetation efforts when comparing with reference area data and / or standards. With regard to plant cover, all 15 areas sampled in 2008 pass the success comparison (90% of the reference area value) for "perennial only" ground cover. However, only 7 of the 16 areas pass when all life forms are compared. This "failure" is due to lower cheatgrass levels in the revegetated areas as compared with the elevated levels found in the Greasewood and Shadscale Reference Areas in 2008. If cheatgrass were excluded from total ground cover tallies, 14 of the 15 areas (with the exception of the Roadside Refuse Borrow Area) would pass the success standard. With regard to diversity, 2 of the 15 revegetated areas analyzed pass all four standards with 11 of the remaining 12 passing at least two of the four standards. Most of the diversity failures are due to insufficient cover by perennial, warm-season grasses (see Table 1) that take several years to establish at elevated levels. The following sections provide a brief narrative of the sampling results for each of the revegetated and reference units. 3.1 Cameo Borrow Area No. 1 Ground cover of the Cameo Borrow Area No. 1 consisted of 54.0% live vegetation, 7.6% rock, 25.7% litter, and bare soil exposure of 12.7% (Table 3a). Perennial cover across the unit averaged 29.2% (up from 17.2% in 2006) with annual and biennial cover averaging 24.8% (down from 35.2% in 2006). Dominant taxa were cheatgrass (Anisantha tectorum), fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia), and Russian wildrye (Psathrostachys junceus) with 23.9%, 18.5%, and 3.6%, and 3.0% average cover, respectively. This unit fails the revegetation success criterion of 90% of the Greasewood Reference Area value when both annual and perennial cover values are combined (Table 1). It passes, however, when only perennial cover is compared due to the disparity in cheatgrass levels between reference areas and revegetated areas as described above. The Cameo Borrow Area No. 1 currently passes three of the four diversity standards. There is sufficient cover of perennial forbs or sub-shrubs and perennial cool-season grasses to pass the required minimum values, and there are no planted species with greater than 70% relative cover. However, the present relative cover of perennial warm-season grasses (0.0%) is insufficient to pass the required minimum value (2.0%). CEDAR CREEK ASSOCIATES, Inc. Page 10 Snowcap Coal Co. - 2008 Revegetation Evaluation