2013-07-11_REPORT - M1988044 (2)

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5. New soil and overburden stockpiles - No changes occurred other than to add some material to the existing overburden and topsoil stockpiles. This addition was done shortly before this annual report was prepared. RECLAMATION ACTIVITY IN THE LAST YEAR: Climatic summary of previous year - The following four pages of graphs show the climatic patterns for 2012 and the first half of 2013. These data are for KDEN, the weather station at Denver International Airport (DIA). As has been previously determined, the Coal Creek site, on average tends to be somewhat cooler and wetter than DIA, but the overall pattern at DIA is largely applicable to the specific Coal Creek area. Past examinations showed that the stations surrounding Coal Creek (Bennett, Parker, and Cherry Creek Dam) were about 5 to 10 percent wetter and a couple of degrees cooler than DIA. However, consistency in the differences is often lacking on the annual scale with the three nearby stations showing more variation between themselves than the average of the three deviates from DIA. Also, because recent records from those stations are often not continuous the data set itself for each station shows high variance. After the intense rains on June 6 and 7, which were far more intense here than the data for DIA shows, there was little precipitation until early July. The monsoon was weak in 2012 with only occasional heavy storms separated by long periods of intense heat and low humidity. Early August saw a couple of moderate rainstorms, but as was true for the entire Denver region, August was intensely hot and dry with many records broken. September was a bit of a relief from the intense drought conditions of August, but temperatures were still often well above normal and precipitation scant. October had two good snowstorms (Oct 12 -14 and 24- 25), but temperatures remained above normal for the most part. In November there was a good snowstorm on the 10`h and in December there were a few small snows followed by a true White Christmas. But temperatures remained generally above normal until December 25 through 31 when an intense cold spell settled in over the urban corridor. With the exception of January 11 -15, January was above normal in temperatures and near normal in precipitation. From February 20 through May 8 precipitation was unusually abundant and temperatures were generally near normal to below normal. April saw a considerable amount of wet snow with good melting that provided a strong charging of the soil in preparation for the coming summer. However, between about May 20 and June 15 much of what was gained in moisture in the wet March and April was lost and precipitation returned to below normal. However, 2013 has been much more favorable than 2012 which saw, on the whole, above normal temperatures and a moisture deficit for the year of nearly 5 inches, which is only about 60% of normal precipitation. Couple that with above normal temperatures during the growing season and it is no wonder severe drought was present at the start of 2013. The wet and cool to cold spring of 2013 helped to relieve some of the deficit, but 2011 was also a deficit year. Thus the long term condition is consistent with this area being classified as abnormally dry to moderate drought by mid June 2013. By late June the national drought monitor map showed this area shifted from abnormally dry to moderate drought. On the whole this is not a good growth environment to conduct quality revegetation work. However, vegetation already well established, if composed of drought tolerant species, Status report for 2013 due July 15, 2013 Page 6 of 16