Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Office March 17, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), are proposing minor changes to our regulations that govern topsoil replacement and revegetation success standards. These revisions would: Encourage species diversity on reclaimed lands; provide flexibility to States in using new vegetative success standards and sampling techniques; define success standards for undeveloped land; remove shelter belts from the list of postmining land uses subject to success standards; remove what we believe is an impediment to reforestation of mined lands and provide practical means of measuring woody shrubs commonly planted on arid lands in the West; and make the timing of revegetation success measurements in areas receiving 26 inches of annual precipitation or less consistent with those in areas receiving more than 26 inches of annual precipitation.