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Soils <br />The permit site is located in an "ustic-aridic" soil moisture regime and a "cryic-frigid" soil <br />temperature regime. Moisture is limiting within these soils, but the soil moisture is present <br />during the growing season as a result of the quantity and distribution of precipitation. The <br />majority of soils found within the permit area are suitable for topsoil salvage in a depth of 0.5 to <br />3.5 feet. The primary limiting factor to topsoil salvage is occasional slopes in excess of 45%. <br />Loams and clay loams are the soil types most commonly found throughout the permit area. <br />Land Use <br />The most dominant land use, in terms of area, in and adjacent to the mine area is rangeland. <br />Other adjacent land uses include irrigated and dryland cropland, residential areas, coal mining, <br />electric power generation, oil production, and recreation. <br />The post mining land use of the Yoast Mine permit area will be primarily livestock grazing with <br />a secondary use as wildlife habitat. <br />Wildlife <br />Wildlife baseline studies were conducted in 1993 and 1994. Wildlife observed included big <br />game, upland birds, raptors, breeding birds (song birds), and small mammals. Details of the <br />wildlife study are located in Attachment 11-1 of the PAP. <br />Big Game <br />The entire Yoast Mine permit area is classified as winter range for elk, and summer habitat for <br />mule deer. Pronghorn were sighted on two occasions during the two-year baseline monitoring <br />period, in Sections 5 and 9, near the haul road corridor. <br />Upland Game Birds <br />Sharp -tailed grouse, blue grouse, and sage grouse all occur within the permit boundary. Sharp - <br />tailed grouse leks were observed in Sections 5 and 9. Blue grouse were observed in the permit <br />area throughout the spring and summer, with one brood observed. Sage grouse range, <br />production, and brood areas overlap nearly 150 acres in Section 8 of the permit area. There are <br />approximately 80 acres of sage grouse range and production areas in Section 16, and the entire <br />haul road corridor is in sage grouse range. There were no active sage grouse leks observed <br />within the permit area. <br />Raptors <br />Three species of raptors were found nesting in the wildlife survey area in 1993. The species <br />were the Cooper's hawk, red -tail hawk, and the great horned owl. Seven other raptor species <br />were observed during the 1993 breeding season, but no active nests were found. The seven <br />species were turkey vulture, northern harrier, sharp -shinned hawk, northern goshawk, <br />7 <br />