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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />As required by Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (CDRMS) regulations, <br />coal mining operations must demonstrate that the vegetation established on reclaimed areas <br />of coal mines support the approved post - mining land use and meet the approved success <br />standard for vegetation cover prior to final Phase III bond release. This vegetation sampling <br />represents a reinvestigation of total vegetation cover on Phase III eligible areas previously <br />submitted for bond release review (SL -06) at the Coors Energy Company Keenesburg Mine. <br />Quantitative vegetation sampling of Phase III eligible areas was conducted in August 2011. <br />Total vegetation cover and species composition were sampled to statistical adequacy using <br />the same methods, locations and timeframes as those employed for the 2009 and 2010 Phase <br />III quantitative sampling. Comparisons were made between the total vegetation cover mean <br />from the reclamation areas and predicted values calculated from the approved equation based <br />on on -site precipitation from September 2010 to July 2011. The total vegetation cover mean <br />for the reclamation areas (47.33 %) exceeded the predicted value of 35.41 percent total <br />vegetation cover in this years sampling. Species composition of the reclamation areas was <br />also evaluated from a final success criterion perspective. Results from this year's vegetation <br />re- sampling at the Keenesburg Mine revealed that the vegetation of the reclaimed areas <br />exceeded the final species composition revegetation success for the mine. Further, the state <br />of development of vegetation in these areas at the mine shows that the permittee has <br />established a diverse, effective, and permanent vegetative cover of the same seasonal variety <br />as the original vegetation, meeting the final success criterion for species composition. <br />1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />This vegetation report represents a re- sampling of vegetation cover for Phase III eligible <br />parcels at the Keenesburg Mine (CDRMS permit C- 1981 -028) owned by Coors Energy <br />Company. This further investigation was undertaken following a delay in its normal <br />response by the CDRMS staff to the SL -06 submittal. It was also, in part, a reaction to <br />concerns raised by CDRMS staff regarding the presence of Bromus tectorum (cheatgrass) in <br />the 2010 total vegetation cover sampling. It is the investigator's assertion that Bromus <br />tectorum is a particularly opportunistic annual grass, whose presence in a given parcel is <br />totally dependent on the prevailing precipitation regime in the early spring months of a given <br />growing season. <br />Information in this report addresses the vegetative condition of Phase III eligible reclaimed <br />areas at the mine. The CDRMS requires quantitative vegetation sampling and reporting as a <br />demonstration of successful revegetation establishment prior to Phase III bond release. <br />Quantitative information in this report addresses the vegetative condition of the 1998, 1999, <br />and 2000 reclamation areas at the mine. These reclamation areas include Reclamation Areas <br />2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 19. Vegetation sampling was performed in compliance with <br />Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board Surface Coal Mining Rules 2.04.10 and 4.15 and <br />current botanical and plant ecological methods. Field sampling was conducted August 30, <br />2011 by Michael and Edith Savage of Savage and Savage, Inc. <br />Coors Energy Company Keenesburg Mine Page 1 <br />2011 Vegetation Sampling: Phase III Eligible Areas <br />