;««?* 



Figure 27.— Sprinkler irrigation on topsolled, graded spoils at the San Juan mine in New Mexico. One foot of topsoil placed 

 on tfie spoil is seeded and tfien irrigated by tfie sprintder system in the background. About 6 to 8 inches of water is supplied 

 to the seeded spoil during the first two growing seasons. This thickness of topsoil was found adequate through extensive 

 prior tests. The San Juan generating station is in the background. August 1978. 



mined lands has been considered by mining 

 companies (Chase Caldwell, Navajo mine, oral 

 communication, 1978). Transplanting patches of 

 native sod or individual plants, even if the prin- 

 cipal plants die (fig. 34), provides a source of a 

 variety of native plants as vjeW as soil biota. 



At the time of this investigation, the new Fed- 

 eral reclamation regulations (U.S. Office of 

 Surface Mining, 1979) were just starting to be en- 

 forced, and exactly how they would be inter- 

 preted in the field was not fully known. Pre- 

 sumably, most reclamation approaches would 

 be decided on a case-by-case basis. It is the in- 

 tent of the regulations in paragraphs 816.1 1 1 and 

 816.112 to require a diverse vegetation with ap- 

 proximately the same level of seasonal utili- 

 tarian plant life forms that previously existed. 

 Replanting with native species is preferred, but 

 introduced species will be approved on a limited 

 basis. The plant cover should be "a mixture of 



species of equal or superior utility [to the natural 

 vegetation] for the approved postmining land 



uses " The GSM standards for success, 



however (par. 816.116), do not mention diversity 

 or native species per se, but only the percentage 

 of ground cover and its productivity. Although 

 these regulations address postmining uses for 

 grazing (on rangelands) and wildlife manage- 

 ment individually, people applying the regula- 

 tions have tended to aim for a combination of 

 both, as indicated by the premining multi- 

 purpose uses planned for most of the mines 

 sites examined. 



Although neither diversity nor the proportions 

 of native plant species have been specified 

 quantitatively, OSM interpreted paragraph 

 816.111 (a), "a diverse, effective, and permanent 

 vegetative cover of the same seasonal variety 

 native to the area ... or species that support the 

 approved postmining land uses," to mean that a 



42 



