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2. Rule 3.03.1(3)(a) Reestablishment of Revegetation <br />When determining the amount of bond to be released, the Board or Division shall retain that amount <br />of bond for the revegetated area which would be sufficient for a third party to cover the cost of <br />reestablishing revegetation at any time during the period specified for permittee responsibility for <br />revegetation described in Rule 3.02.3. <br />The Division finds the applicant in compliance for full bond release. Areas disturbed during mining <br />were seeded with a seedmix composed of species native to the area along with approved introduced <br />species. The seedmix, Table 2.6 in the permit, favored graminoid species with good forage utility. <br />The post-mining land use is rangeland with wildlife use. Several small areas of the Mine area will also <br />be used as recreational and residential (incidental to, and in conjunction with, the post-mining land use <br />as rangeland). These portions include the metal building at the Northern No.1 Mine, the former Mine <br />office pad and the "timber storage area". These areas were specifically requested by the landowner <br />to be retained and as such, not revegetated. <br />The reclaimed area vegetation was sampled in 1995 and 1996. Cover, production and diversity data <br />were collected. Both 1995 and 1996 data were sampled to adequacy. The cover standard is based <br />upon pre-mining vegetative cover and equals 63.86% live vegetative cover. Ninety percent of this <br />standard equals 57.47%. Samples were proportionally allocated throughout the various parcels; <br />Northern No.1 East, Northern No. 1 West, Northern topsoil, Refuse area, Refuse topsoil area, and <br />the Rienau No. 2 area. The 1995 data shows total perennial non-noxious vegetative cover equaled to <br />59.1%. This value is in excess of 90% of the approved cover standard and subsequently satisfies Rule <br />4.15.8(3)(a). Data collected in 1996 measured 56.1% total perennial non-noxious cover on the <br />reclaimed areas. This value was tested for achievement of ninety percent of the required cover <br />standard with a ninety percent confidence interval using null hypothesis testing, as outlined in the <br />Division's Coal Mine Bond Release Guidelines (dated 4/18/95). A one-sample T-test was performed <br />and found that the "null hypothesis" was not rejected, therefore the vegetation data is deemed <br />successful for the 1996 cover data. The Division finds that the vegetation data submitted by the <br />operator meets the success standards as required by Rule 4.15.8(3)(a). <br />The herbaceous production standard is based on pre-mining baseline data of 1200 pounds of biomass <br />per acre. Herbaceous production data was collected in 1995 and 1996 concurrent with the vegetative <br />cover data. Quarter meter plots were sampled by clipping all vegetative biomass rooted within the <br />quadrant, then air and oven drying to a constant weight. Sample adequacy was calculated and found <br />satisfactory for both the 1995 and 1996 data. The 1995 herbaceous production data measured at 3565 <br />pounds of biomass per acre. This value is almost three (3) times the approved standard. 1996 <br />herbaceous production data measured at 2487 pounds of biomass per acre. This value is greater than <br />two (2) times the required productivity standard. The Division finds that the production on the <br />reclaimed areas meets the requirement of Rule 4.15.8(4). <br />The diversity standard approved for the Meeker area mines states, "Four (4) cool season grasses will <br />be established such that no one species accounts for no more than 40% of the measured vegetative <br />21 20 January 1998