2017-05-23_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M1977472

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2. PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES 2.1.1. Project Components and General Schedule The proposed action is to issue a free use permit, for a period of ten years, to Jackson County for the existing BLM East/East Walden Pit. Free use permits are limited to 10 year terms by regulation. The permit area is located on 31 acres of BLM-administered public lands (see Appendix A for project maps). There are currently 12 acres of surface disturbance within the pit boundary. Over the next ten years, Jackson County proposes to create approximately two acres of additional surface disturbance. A total of fourteen acres within the permit area will incur surface disturbance within this I0-year permit cycle. Jackson County is requesting to remove a total of 130,000 cubic yards over the next ten years; with approximately 13,000 cubic yards of material removed per year. For the last several years, typical mined volumes averaged approximately 325 cubic yards per year. Jackson County uses the pit materials to produce sand, gravel, pit run, and rock chips for repairing the county road system. Pit material will be crushed to produce rock chips. Jackson County plans to crush material on site three times over the next ten years; twice to produce a total of 40,000 cubic yards of rock chips and once to produce 20,000 cubic yards of road base. Each crushing operation takes place within a 30 to 60-day time span. Some of the crushed material will be transported to an off-site wash plant so that smaller material, including '/4 inch plus-sized chips, can be recovered from the waste material. Stockpiles will be stored on site. The potential mineral material reserves of sand and gravel within BLM East/East Walden Pit are estimated to be approximately 470,000 cubic yards. At the current rate of permitted extraction, 36 more years of material remains at this site. It is expected that the permit will be renewed until the County has exhausted the mineral resources according to its mining plan. Future permit renewals may include changed or additional conditions of approval as mining and reclamation standards change over time. Jackson County proposes to continue mining to the north and west while maintaining a 20-foot wide berm between the active mining area and the permit boundary fence. The 20-foot wide berm shall extend around the entire perimeter of the active pit and all excavation and processing shall occur within the berm. The slope within the pit will not exceed 3:1. The maximum gravel thickness to be mined is 20 feet. According to geologic maps, the gravel deposit is approximately 20 feet thick at this site (Kinney, 1970). Topsoil will be stripped and stockpiled on the south side of the active pit. If small trees or brush will be stored for mulch, they will be removed and stockpiled separately during the stockpiling DOI-BLM-CO-N020-2017-0003 4