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of their property to a sideroll irrigation system, where they grew a variety of crops, including <br />corn and alfalfa. R: 7336, 7351. <br />The active pit first entered the Morgan Property in 2004, and progressed westward. In <br />January 2008, Ms. Turner, for the first time, informed the Division that PR -5 may have <br />improperly designated the Morgan Property as non -prime farmland. Prior to that time, all <br />permitting was predicated on the finding that no prime farmland soils were present on the <br />Morgan Property.3 <br />2. Determination of Prime Farmland in the Permit Boundary <br />Upon receiving Ms. Turner's correspondence raising the prime farmland issue, the <br />Division immediately began an administrative review to ascertain whether the Permit improperly <br />designated lands within the Permit boundary. The Division learned that the negative prime <br />farmland determination in PR -5 was based upon a typographical error contained in the Colorado <br />Important Farmland Inventory publication.4 The Division convened a meeting on February 15, <br />2008, between representatives of the Division, WFC, and the NRCS. R: 7962. Immediate <br />changes were made to the topsoil salvage and stockpiling operations on the Morgan Property in <br />3 Plaintiffs agree "It is undisputed that prior to that time [2008] WFC had been operating under a <br />permitting regime from DRMS that assumed prime farmland soils were not present." Opening <br />Brief, p. 22. <br />4 As part of WFC's 1998 pre -mine soil survey 88 acres of the 108 -acre Morgan Property was <br />Barx soils (prime farmland), however, the survey concluded: `Barx soil as used in this survey is <br />not considered as being prime farmland because the pH is higher than 7.4 in all horizons." R: <br />8140, 8522. Based on this conclusion, the Division designated the Morgan Property as non - <br />prime farmland. Further review by NRCS and the Division found that the negative prime <br />farmland designation was based upon an typographical error contained in the Colorado Important <br />Farmland Inventory handbook, and that the prime farmland threshold pH should have been 8.4, <br />not 7.4. Id. <br />C:1 <br />