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~I~p GA 1~ 998 STATE OF COLORADO DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY De•parlmenl oI Natural Resources 131 S Sherm, n SL, Ruom ? I S Denver. Colorado tl0:03 II~ Phunr~ 13031 Hfifi~35fii DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Rm Romer Goeemor November 18, 1997 lunges S. LOChheaA Aecunve D"ecmr Vern Pfannenstiel Michael B Long Drvisinn Dueclor Seneca Coal Company P.O. Box 605 Kayenta, AZ 86033 RE: DMG Shrub Tour and Revegetation Rule-making Dear Mr. Pfannenstiel: This letter is a belated "thank you" and an update following the shrub establishment tour you participated in this past July. I would also like to inform you of the progress of our renewed effort to revise portions of the regulations pertaining to revegetation performance standards. On behalf of the Division of Minerals and Geology, I wanted to express our appreciation to Seneca Coal Company for hosting a part;of the tour and to thank you and Roy Karo for participating in the tour. As you know, the Division is interested in pursuing beneficial and productive resolution to the challenges faced by Colorado coal mines in establishing shrubs on reclaimed mined lands. Toward that goal, this year's shrub tour was organized as afact-finding mission. The tour gave Division staff and reclamation staff from several northwest coal mines an opportunity to review and assess some of the shrub establishment efforts undertaken in the past. We at the Division feel that the tour was a successful and useful effort. We hope that you gained some useful information from the tour, as well. As we discussed during the tour, the Division hopes to resolve three general questions related to the use of shrubs in reclamation. First, is the establishment of shrubs on reclaimed lands essential? Second, what are the successes and failures of past shrub establishment efforts? Finally, what types of success standards and sampling methods are most appropriate for areas where shrubs are a required component of reclamation? In order to address the first question, input from the Colorado Division of Wildlife will be necessary. While it is unfortunate that the CDOW was unable to participate in the tour, the Division hopes to seek their comments on this matter in another forum this winter.