Hey Brad, something else you might keep in mind about your 10 year project, how fun would it be to have the contractor clear and doze your current boundary line, (the 11 acres also) as "a fence line" were to be installed at some point in the future, the thing about surveyed boundary lines is that they sometimes fade with time, as little time as 10 years, but a dozed trail along that surveyed "fence line" clearly marks your boundary for a long time, noticeable even under heavy snow, never infringe upon your neighbors property or cause direct run off onto others property...if at all possible. If properly marked and managed, you will only need one survey that will not only serve you, your neighbors, but new owners as they move thru...how crazy would that be if a single survey expense stood the test of time, due to your attention to it. Marked trees/ pink ribbons/ will eventually fade, steel markers are much better than 'a painted pile of stones' ...somewhere down there..., all those items can even sometimes be moved, or lost, but a dozer cut line is permanent & fairly obvious to all even a fence builder 20 years from now, the cut is useful for access to those remote corners of the place.
I look at property as something that may be improved upon, to add value to the property in various ways, so that when the property is sold the added value is cashed in at the point of sale. Roads, trails, and fence lines all add value only if they were practical facilities in the first place, using proper building techniques and materials, always thoughtful of the natural surroundings, these improvements should add value immediately for you... even if you never sell. A few thoughtful & well built roads will give you easy access to the ponds, buildings, garden areas...this is part of your job as the tenant, to leave a place that is functional, perhaps even fenced, not just to mark the boundary, but useful to someone that intends to raise livestock, like cattle perhaps. Building fence is very hard work, especially in a rock/ mountain side situation, but maybe you enjoy that kind of work, there again a sound fence could also function to benefit your neighbors. A fence line could eventually support accessible fruit trees and berry bushes for example, or how fun would it be if some catalpa trees went along the fence lines, I would want catalpa worms for fishing those ponds! I guess it is kind of like comparing a totally unimproved property 'in the woods, or whatever' ~~most people don't want to do the work & expense of improvements, when they can buy it already installed~~ a property with city water, electric, telephone, fenced, ponds, gardens...I'm sure you already figured that out.
So then, about your contractor, what are you going to do for him? Isn't the reason you welcomed the rock mining, is to gain some benefits from the mining. But what of your contractor?, did he not use the previous example a few miles down the road...to prove what type of job he leaves behind. With that in mind, you might try looking at this from the contractor's point of view and ask...what can I do as the tenant, to help reclaim the area? You and your ability, might be just what the contractor is seeking, someone that can responsibly & even aggressively reclaim the area! From the other mining site down the road, was the tenant there content to just 'let it be what it is'?, or have they been out there steadily trying to capture the advantages of the mining operations. Do they have some materials to sell to the locals for example, mounds & mounds of chat, SB2, clay gravel, sand, whatever...stored income producers for the tenant, even after the mining operation completed. Where they quick to plant and sow, and transplant/nurture necessary vegetation to properly reclaim the area?...did they have to do it all by themselves?...isn't that why the mining contractor chose that location/tenant? Mining reclaim is not cheap, so don't forget that your services are required, and extensive, of which you should have no problems asking the contractor to move the heavy stuff, expecting it to get done, not disrupting his mining operation, but...as part of the reclaiming strategy. Lots of Before & After pictures is part of your job as reclaimer perhaps, proof so that you can share your photo progress with the contractor and others, remember the contractor wants to continue operations somewhere else down the road...wouldn't it be cool if you made a brief photo journal of the operation, notes, and just as important ...the reclaiming effort that you & the contractor made along the way. You might mention this reclamation to the contractor, and if he somehow wants to be part of the reclamation or not, because if the answer is: not, then he expects YOU to be responsible for it, kinda sounds unfair if your only getting paid a few loads of topsoil, check out the link I added to this post below. Also as the contractor just begins, it should be known that any and all salvageable plants must be sorted thru and sustained for use in reclamation, granted most trees don't transplant well, but I would want the ability to jump right in there and save as many viable plants as possible. Plants cost money to buy them, but if you can save an existing plants, grasses, wild flower seed, shrubs, little trees hazelnut, spicebush, coralberry, or even a dogwood, paw paw, little saplings, red elms, or wild geraniums, violets, ginseng, grapevines, whatever!...this is what you need that topsoil upfront for, to save/store/nurture existing plants...there is no point to saving these plants if you & the contractor haven't already provided a place out of harms way, for these plants to live temporarily, 'a nursery of sorts'.
http://www.marble-institute.com/pdfs/bp_site-maintenance-closure.pdf ~~from the internet, I searched 'rock quarry reclamation, TN' you should see what others have to say about a quarry project, including your neighbors.
james beam;)
). Thanks again for your input. Brad
