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• <br />Mine Site Inspection <br />Mine Name: Seneca IIW Mine <br />Permittee: Peabody Coal Company <br />Permit ID #: C- 1982 -057 <br />Inspection Date: June 6, 2012 1:00 — 4:00 <br />Weather Conditions: Warm, dry, breezy, clear skies <br />Participants: <br />Christine Belka, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) ID# 182 <br />Sandy Brown, Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) <br />Roy Karo, Seneca Coal Company <br />This was a partial oversight inspection conducted in conjunction with a special focus evaluation. The <br />special focus evaluation will assess Reclamation Success under the Division of Reclamation Mining and <br />Safety (DRMS) Program. Specifically, OSM is evaluating the success of wildlife habitat post mining land <br />uses on reclaimed areas. <br />Field Evaluation <br />Seneca IIW is a reclaimed surface mine with a post mining land use of rangeland and wildlife habitat. <br />Seneca Coal Company (SCC) has prioritized reestablishing native plant and tree species including aspen, <br />chokecherry, and serviceberry in the permit area. To that end, SCC has created multiple tree and shrub <br />clumps which they fence to exclude wildlife (see photo 7494). This allows vegetation to establish <br />without being browsed by wildlife. While counterintuitive to supporting a wildlife post mining land use, <br />this promotes successful tree establishment and those established trees provide a source stock for <br />further establishment of those species. Fences could be removed after trees have grown to a point <br />where wildlife browsing would not be detrimental. However, SCC will leave the fences and landowners <br />will decide whether or not to remove them after the bond has been released. Shrubs and trees will <br />continue to establish from those sources whether fences remain in place or not. <br />Stock Pond 18 has been approved for permanent retention. Elk, deer, sandhill crane, and bobcat tracks <br />and droppings indicate that wildlife make good use of this area (see photo 7495). Mallards and redwing <br />blackbirds were present during the inspection. Islands in the pond encourage wildlife usage (see photo <br />7496). <br />Rolling topography, diverse vegetation, and islands of undisturbed lands provide diverse habitat and <br />ecotone regions. Deer, hawk, and elk were observed within the permit area. <br />A landslide that occurred in 2010 necessitated major earthmoving work. SCC has completed the majority <br />of this work including installing gravel under drains, regrading the area, and reestablishing the road (see <br />photo 7497). Pond 16A was reclaimed in this process; now area runoff reports to Pond 16. SCC plans to <br />assess the stability of this area before spreading topsoil next summer. An adjacent area was permitted <br />to be mined. However, the economics did not work out and SCC maintained the native aspen stand on <br />