2011-07-20_REPORT - M1988044 (2)

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B. New species: No new species have been noted. In a few places this year, the thistles appear to be stronger. This is especially true of the large, magenta flowered species such as Bull and Musk thistle and to a lesser extent Scotch thistle. Last year Canada thistle was moved to the top of the list for control efforts over the next year or two. Control efforts on this and other thistles has made a difference, but more is needed. The thistles are still a problem, even though the scope of the problem has been significantly reduced. 2. Weed status on lessee responsibility lands: As described above. OTHER INFORMATION THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR FUTURE REFERENCE: Nothing of special note. DESCRIPTION OF UNUSUAL CONDITIONS OR EVENTS: Over the last year increasing interest in oil and gas, particularly gas, development on this part of the Lowry Range is of some concern to the mining and the mine reclamation program. At this point in time, it does not appear conflicts between the two will be common and what difficulties that might arise should be easy to remedy. However, it is of concern that land will be disturbed within Schmidt's Reclamation Permit boundary that they will not be responsible for. This creates a legal challenge because the reclamation law does not actually provide directly for these kinds of activities occurring in the same area. Currently, thought is being given to finding a way to document these oil and gas development disturbances and making sure that there are no legal problems that arise due to a conflict. It might be useful for the oil and gas development people to use the seed mixture that Schmidt uses when they reclaim land, but that is not really the difficulty. The real difficulty is the overlap in the Reclamation Permit and avoiding Schmidt from becoming responsible for someone else's activities that are completely legal and consistent with the use of the land. This is viewed as a temporary problem that should be easy to solve by simply documenting disturbances and making decisions as to what remains in the permit and what is released from bond because of the other uses. PHOTOGRAPHS: Following are five photographs. These are of the reclamation at each of the five reclamation areas discussed in this report. Although it would require many photographs to fully represent the species and the diversity of vegetation variations in each area, especially the two large ones, these images provide an overall representative view of each area. Each photograph was taken on July 8, 2011. Marker lines and labels show the boundaries of the reclamation areas. By comparing the more distant portions of the reclamation areas to adjacent undisturbed land at least some idea can be gained of how closely the color and texture of the natural vs the reclamation vegetation match or blend. It can also be seen how well the form and line of the reclamation grading work did to blend the location into the natural topography. Form, line, color, and texture are the four elements of landscape visual analysis. In a general sense at least, the reclamation has produced a pleasant blending of these characteristics with very little negative deviation. Status report for 2009 dormant for a long time and then suddenly spring up when nobody is suspecting them or looking. due July 15, 2010 Page 12 of 13