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August 24, 2010 C-1981-019/Colowyo Coal Mine JR <br />During the inspection the Division walked the Phase II and III areas beginning in the reference areas, followed by <br />the West Pit, then the Section 16 Pit and ending in the East Pit. The following are some specific observations <br />from the inspection. Note, the Division has not yet completed a detailed review of the vegetation monitoring data <br />for either the Phase 11 or III Bond Release areas. Once this is completed, the Division will provide Colowyo with <br />any questions or concerns as needed. <br />Reference Areas <br />- For the vegetation monitoring at the Colowyo Mine, Colowyo uses two reference areas. The first reference area <br />is the sagebrush reference area, which was established in 1981. This reference area is used for all lands that were <br />determined to be sagebrush grasslands in the original vegetation mapping for the Colowyo Mine. The second <br />reference area is the mountain shrub reference area. This area was originally established in 1980 and was <br />expanded during the Permit Revision 02 permitting process in 2006. Originally, the mountain shrub reference area <br />only included a mesic component so the reference area was expanded to the west to include a xeric component as <br />well. The mix between the mesic and xeric components is 50150. We visited the reference areas on the morning <br />of 25 August 2010. The reference areas used were the correct ones and the field visit confirmed that they <br />appeared to be what was represented in the vegetation monitoring reports and pictures. <br />West Pit Revegetation <br />- The areas included in the Phase II Bond Release application (SL-04) for the West Pit are reclamation blocks <br />WP003, WP004, WP005, WP006, WP007, WP008, WP009, WP010 and WP011, encompassing 49.44 acres. The <br />areas included in the Phase III Bond Release application (SL-05) are reclamation blocks WP001, WP002, WP005, <br />WP006 and WP007, encompassing 54.92 acres. These areas are all outslopes of the West Pit Fill. All of these <br />areas were walked during the inspection. <br />- All of the areas (with the exception of WP010, discussed below) exhibited excellent vegetative cover, with <br />perennial grasses and forbs dominating. There were small areas within the reclamation blocks (mostly the older <br />reclamation blocks) with a fair amount of woody stems (including silver sage, big sagebrush, rubber rabbitbrush <br />and four-wing saltbush). There was a large patch of Canadian Thistle located in reclamation block WP001, just <br />south of the West Pit Pond. This area will need to be sprayed prior to the release of these areas. There were also <br />numerous individual thistle plants on the reclaimed slopes. The Division recommends walking these areas with a <br />backpack sprayer and/or taking a spade and spraying/removing the thistle plants as necessary. The larger weed <br />patches in the West Pit Phase II and III Bond Release area are shown on Inspection Map 13. <br />- There was a good deal of cheatgrass (predominately Bromus Tectorum) on the newer, Phase II Bond Release <br />area, reclamation which was not seen on the older, Phase III Bond Release area reclamation. In particular, WP007 <br />and WPO10 showed a heavy presence of cheatgrass. While WP007 had a large cheatgrass component, there was a <br />fair amount of perennial grass interspersed. Based on historic data and field observations, when there is a <br />perennial grass component within the cheatgrass community, the perennial grass out-competes the cheatgrass. The <br />Division is satisfied that reclamation block WP007 is on the way to at least limiting the cheatgrass problem. <br />Colowyo should closely monitor the progress of reclamation block WP007. <br />- More than half of reclamation block WPO 10, however, displayed a large cheatgrass component (predominately <br />Number of Partial Inspection this Fiscal Year: 3 <br />Number of Complete Inspections this Fiscal Year: 0 <br />Page 10 of 39