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succulents and annual grasses in the reclaimed communities is either impractical or <br />undesirable. Thus, these two growth forms will not be considered. Again, because of <br />the combined postmine land use of dryland pasture and rangeland, the establishment of <br />shrubs in the reclaimed community will not be at or near premine levels. The shrub <br />fourwing saltbush is included in the rangeland Seed Mix ( #1) to enhance overall woody <br />densities and has been successfully established in the past. No forbs were found to have <br />relative cover values equal to or greater than 3 percent. The rangeland Seed Mix ( #1) <br />includes two forbs (one is also a legume), one subshrub, and one shrub. The Seed Mix <br />( #1) has been developed to achieve the postmine land use and be equal to or superior <br />in utility to the premining vegetation. <br />The species diversity standard to be achieved for rangeland (seed mix #1), which will be <br />sampled in Vegetation Sampling Areas 1 -A and 1 -B are 5 total species above 3% relative <br />cover, where at least one is a perennial grass and at least one is a shrub. The other <br />three can either be perennial grasses or shrubs. The combined relative importance will <br />not be greater than 85 percent and no one species will contribute greater than 40 percent <br />relative importance. <br />The dryland pasture reclaimed area (Vegetation Sampling Area 2) and the Irrigated <br />hayland in Vegetation Sampling Area 3 will have the following species diversity standard: <br />The additional diversity standard will be established as follows: At least 75% of the <br />relative cover or relative production will be comprised of seeded species or species of <br />comparable quality as livestock forage, and no more than 3% relative cover or relative <br />production will be comprised of county listed noxious species. For the purposes of this <br />demonstration, a statistically adequate cover or production sample will be taken, or a <br />minimum of 30 observations. <br />10.4 Seasonal Variety <br />It is requested that the seasonal variety requirements be waived for the following reasons: <br />Two warm season grasses, blue grama and galleta, occur in the premining vegetation <br />community. Both of these species have been used in past reclamation activities at the <br />Nucla Mine with very poor results. To achieve quick establishment of a protective <br />vegetative cover and utilitarian levels of production, drought tolerant cool season grasses <br />are included in the mix. These cool season grasses easily out - compete the poorly <br />germinating and slower developing warm season grasses. This is compounded further <br />by the very low precipitation received in the area. In order to document this concern, <br />support precious field observations, and provide additional basis for the requested waiver, <br />a study of areas revegetated with mixes containing warm season grasses was undertaken <br />in the summer of 1988 to evaluate the success of warm season grass establishment. <br />Cover and frequency data were collected on July 13 -14 in reclaimed areas on both sides <br />of the east /west county road and south of Mining Area 1. The cover and frequency data <br />collected {see Appendix 22 -1, Table 2 "Cover and Frequency Summary for Areas <br />Reclaimed South of Mining Area 1(5W Pits) -Nucla Mine, 1988) shows the warm season <br />grass component to be insignificant in the revegetated stands. The average vegetative <br />cover was 11.6 percent, with ground cover (vegetation and litter) at 36.9 percent. No <br />warm season grasses occurred in the 15 samples taken. An intensive search in the <br />reclaimed areas for incidental species noted the very occasional occurrence of sand <br />dropseed, blue grama, and alkali sacaton. Sand dropseed was the most common of the <br />REVISED 11 Nov 09 Tab 22 -22 <br />