2014-03-21_PERMIT FILE - C1996084 (2)

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New Elk Coal Company LLC December 30, 2012 Page 2 Mine DRMS Permit is a routine renewal for an inactive mine. The mine has been undergoing reclamation since approximately 2003, and no new mining is proposed. The mine permit area is 3,142 acres of land under private surface ownership (see enclosed maps). The currently - permitted area of surface disturbance is 129.3 acres, 123.4 acres of which have been reclaimed or are undergoing reclamation, and 5.9 acres of which will be permanent roads. Other surface facilities within the mine permit boundary include an office area, a service area, and a rail load -out, together comprising less than about 15 acres. Physical and Ecological Setting The Lorencito Canyon Mine permit boundary encompasses lands within Township 33 South, Range 66 West of the 6th Principle Meridian, Las Animas County, Colorado, in the lower reaches of the Cow Canyon, Jeff Canyon, Little Jeff Canyon, and Lorencito Canyon drainages, south of the Purgatoire River (see enclosed maps). Lying in the transition zone between the Great Plains and Southern Rocky Mountain Physiographic Provinces, the region is characterized by wooded rolling hills dissected by moderately deep canyons, in an and to semi- arid climate. The land drains generally north and east, toward the Purgatoire River, an Arkansas River basin tributary. The drainages crossing the property were determined to be intermittent in hydrology studies performed for the original permit application and ongoing stream monitoring. The mine permit area is situated at an average elevation of about 7,100 feet above mean sea level and is vegetated primarily with Southern Rocky Mountain pinyon juniper woodlands and Rocky Mountain Gambel oak mixed montane shrublands, with pockets of Rocky Mountain ponderosa pine woodlands and Western Great Plains Foothill and Piedmont grasslands, and minor amounts of Rocky Mountain cliff and canyon or table -rock vegetation assemblages.' Approximately 33 acres of riparian woodlands are found within the mine permit area. Several sedimentation ponds (without permanent water) exist throughout the mine permit area. Previously mined areas reclaimed or in the process of reclamation (approximately 123 acres) support perennial native and cultivar dryland grasses, perennial native forbs, and mixed mountain and semi -desert shrubs. No riparian or wetland vegetation is present in the reclamation area or other areas of surface activity. Scope of This Inventory T &E species analyzed for the original DRMS permit application included species with federal threatened, endangered, or candidate status with potential to occur in the vicinity (bald eagle, Mexican spotted owl, peregrine falcon, southwestern willow flycatcher, black- footed ferret, and Arkansas darter); species with state threatened or endangered status (burrowing owl); as well as several species of federal or state "concern" (Baird's sparrow, ferruginous hawk, mountain plover, swift fox, Texas horned lizard, and speckled chub). Since the original analysis, bald eagle and peregrine falcon have been delisted and declared recovered by the federal government, and the range of the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) has been redefined by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) as lying well outside the vicinity of the mine. Therefore, bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and southwestern willow flycatcher are eliminated from further consideration in this inventory update. The Arkansas darter remains a federal candidate since the original inventory, and therefore remains part ' USGS. 2004. Southwest Regional GAP Analysis Project Digital Provisional Landcover Dataset for the Southwestern United States. V1.0. http: / /earth.gis.usu.edu /swgap RARE EARTh SCIENCE