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NOTES ON THE COMPARISON OF DATA TO APPLICABLE REFERENCE AREA STANDARDS <br />Upon the formal comparison of cover data from reclaimed areas to applicable performance standards, <br />observed total first -hit herbaceous cover percentage must be adjusted for excessive contribution by <br />annual / biennial species (CDMG 1995, Guidelines Regarding Selected Coal Mine Bond Release Issues, <br />1 (IV)A(4)). Herbaceous cover values used in such comparisons also must exclude values for species <br />present on the Routt County Prohibited or Restricted Noxious list or that are listed as noxious by the State <br />of Colorado (Colorado Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, Title 35, Article 5.5, 101 -119, Lists <br />A and B of Rules as replaced 2003). <br />For purposes of assessment of reclamation adequacy, first -hit herbaceous cover data from reference <br />area sampling are DOUBLED as per Seneca II Mine permit provisions. <br />It is also to be noted that the data from the two reference areas is weighted in accordance with the <br />original relative abundance of the types in the pre- mining landscape (83% mountain brush, 17% <br />sagebrush /snowberry). In the process of weighting, a reliable estimate of variance associated with the <br />random sampling of each of the two reference areas is lost. Thus the reference area standard is <br />thereafter in the process treated as a technical standard (i.e. without confidence limits) and one - sample t- <br />testing is used. <br />HYPOTHESIS TESTING APPROACHES <br />For formal hypothesis testing relative to Phase II Bond Release the following procedures were followed: <br />Cover <br />For cases where the mean allowable herbaceous cover of the BRB was greater than the reference area <br />technical standard, then the hypothesis of reclamation success was tested using a parametric test of the <br />"reverse null" hypothesis. This was conducted using the following expression (CDMG 2005 revised rule, <br />4.15.11 (2)(c)): <br />5 <br />