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Snowcap Coal Co. <br />Revegetation Monitoring Evaluation - 2011 <br />1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />1.1 General <br />Cedar Creek Associates, Inc. (Cedar Creek) was contracted in 2011 by Snowcap Coal Company <br />(Snowcap) to perform an evaluation of revegetated units within the Snowcap Mine (a.k.a. Powderhorn <br />Coal Co. - Roadside Mine). Monitoring was performed in the interest of ascertaining progress of on -the- <br />ground revegetation in general accordance with Rule 3.03, Release of Performance Bonds and the <br />approved technical revision, TR -60. The revegetated areas evaluated in 2011 consisted of four units <br />ranging in size from 0.2 to 1.6 acres. In addition, the Greasewood and Shadscale Reference Areas were <br />evaluated to provide comparison values. At the time of sampling, revegetation within evaluated units <br />had typically experienced at least four growing seasons since the completion of seeding or reseeding. <br />Location of all revegetation units are shown on Map 1. <br />Field sampling was systematically conducted within the four reclaimed areas as well as within the <br />two reference areas on June 6 th - 9th, 2011. Sampling was conducted by or under the direct supervision <br />of Cedar Creek's Senior Plant Ecologist, Mr. Erik M. Mohr. Each of the four revegetation units was <br />systematically sampled with ten ground cover transects, co- located with an herbaceous production <br />sample, and a woody plant density transect. Furthermore, the Shadscale and Greasewood Reference <br />areas each received 20 ground cover transects and 30 production samples to facilitate collection of a <br />more robust sample. In addition to the sampling effort, current conditions existing at the time of field <br />work were documented by photos of each unit and the reference areas (Plates 1 - 6 in Appendix A) to <br />provide a visual demonstration of site- conditions. Nomenclature for plant taxa follows Weber and <br />Whitman (1996) and lifeform classification regarding sub - shrubs follows Wyoming DEQ (1999). <br />CEDAR CREEK ASSOCIATES, Inc. <br />Page 1 Snowcap - Revegetation Evaluation - 2011 <br />Monitoring <br />