2012-09-06_REPORT - C1980006 (2)

Home Browse Search

standard is based upon "total herbaceous production" we intended on clipping all annuals, biennials and noxious weeds during the production sampling, but none were encountered in the production sampling effort. For each area sampled, a minimum of 30 production transects were used for sample adequacy calculations. Following clipping, the harvested plant materials were dried in a drying oven at 100 degrees C for a period of 24 hours, or until a constant weight ( +/- 0.1 gram) was achieved.. Shrub Density Starting at each of the transect used for the plant cover and production sampling, the fifty -meter tape was laid out along a predetermined and randomly selected alignment. Woody stem density was determined using the center of the tape as a modified belt transect. The right -hand side of the transect was called Side A and the left -hand side of the tape was called Side B. Data collected from each side were added into a transect value which represents the number of shrubs sampled in the 100 m sample plot. These data are reported in the Results Section as to the number of shrubs per 100 m as well as the number of shrubs per acre as outlined in the Permit. The revegetation woody plant density success standard is 1,500 stems per acre or 37.06 stems per 100 m for all reclaimed areas at the Marr Mine and Kerr Tipple areas. Species Diversity. The plant cover data collected at each cover sample transect yielded data relative to absolute and relative cover. These cover data were then converted into percent composition or relative plant cover by species based upon the total amount of plant cover encountered in each sample transect. The relative importance values of plants growing on the reclaimed areas in terms of their value for grazing animals as explained and approved by the CDRMS in TR -25, approved on July 13, 2012, contains standards relative to the forage quality of the reclaimed areas located at the Marr Mine and Kerr Tipple for grazing animals. As described in TR -25, which has been incorporated into the Kerr Permit document, the species diversity standard for 2009, requires that at the Marr Mine site, the reclaimed plant community shall be composed of species which yield a forage quality index value, as calculated from the Alkali Sagebrush Reference Area which equals 193.34. Application of the calculated forage quality index value from the Kerr Tipple Reference Area, as sampled in 2009, means that the forage quality index on the Tipple Reclamation site must be equal to or greater than a value of 210.18. Historical Data. To evaluate vegetation trends over time, we compared data previously collected during the 1980 baseline period contained in the Kerr Permit as well as previously collected revegetation monitoring data. The Kerr Permit data is referenced by the Permit table number, while the data collected by Rocky Mountain Reclamation (RMR) in 1996 entitled "1996 Vegetation Sampling for Interim Monitoring and Bond Release" is cited as the RMR 1996 data. Revegetation monitoring data collected in 1999 by ESCO and entitled "Report of Findings - Reclamation Monitoring - Kerr Mine - Jackson County, Colorado" was also compared to our data. These data are referenced as the ESCO 1999 data. The revegetation monitoring data collected by HVIE Environmental Consultants in 2005 on these same four areas, and found in the previously submitted report entitled " Revegetation Monitoring Report for Reclaimed Areas Sampled in 2005 on the Kerr Coal Company's Marr Mine" was also compared to the data 4