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• 4.2 POSTMINING LAND USE <br />The primary objective of Trapper's reclamation program is to return the affected areas to land uses as <br />high as or higher than those in effect prior to mining. As described in Section 2.5, the proposed mine <br />plan area has three significant land uses, i.e. farming, grazing of domestic livestock and use by wildlife. <br />Pursuant to consultations with appropriate land management agencies and local land owners, Trapper <br />will restore these land uses along with added emphasis on watershed management. Appendix O <br />includes the documentation of these consultations. <br />4.2.1 Farming <br />About 1,700 acres of lands within the proposed mine plan area were used for dryland farming prior to the <br />Trapper Mine. To date, Trapper has disturbed about 593 acres of this cropland and all 593 acres have <br />been reclaimed. Farming is restricted to areas where slopes and soils are amenable to tilling and <br />harvesting crops (refer to Section 2.5.2 for further detail on premine conditions). Trapper's reclamation <br />program will restore fanning to these 593 acres and any additional cropland acreage disturbed in the <br />future following the specific reclamation criteria as detailed in Section 3.6.2. Mining and reclamation will <br />result in some boundary shifts of cropland areas but the total acres replaced to cropland will remain the <br />same as before mining. The expected postmining cropland boundaries are depicted on Map M46. <br />• Pre -mining boundaries are shown on Map M28. All areas not illustrated on Map M46 as cropland will be <br />returned to rangeland postmining land use. <br />• <br />The principal cash crop for the mine plan area was winter wheat. In an effort to reestablish more permanent <br />cropland vegetation, Trapper has taken the initiative to replant many of the previous wheat areas to a <br />pasture and hayland crop. Nonetheless, Trapper's topsoil replacement criteria for areas reclaimed to <br />cropland will result in a suitable growth medium for other potentially valuable crops, such as alfalfa and <br />appropriate pasture grasses. This combination was initially tried on a 20 -acre test area seeded in 1979. <br />Based upon the results of that trial, Trapper Mine elected to return croplands directly to legumes and <br />appropriate pasture grasses instead of winter wheat. This practice has resulted in less wind and water <br />erosion as well as improving organic matter content in the soils and increasing nitrogen. <br />4-4 <br />APP <br />