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which taps the alluvium of Steven's Gulch. The applicant has obtained an approved augmentation <br />plan through Division 4 Water Court to replace water removed from Steven's Gulch. The plan <br />uses releases from East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir, located in the Anthracite drainage, to <br />compensate for any injury to other vestedwater rights or, for this purpose, the North Fork alluvium. <br />The Bowie No. 1 Mine, through an agreement with Pitkin Mesa Pipeline Company, obtained <br />additional water for mine consumption. This water was also drawn from the Steven's Gulch <br />alluvium, but under the pipeline company's water right. <br />BRL proposes to replace the water supply of any legitimate water user if impactedby the mine <br />until such time as repairs are instituted. The application includes specific sources of water owned <br />by BRL that will be called upon. A subsidence repair plan for springs, ponds, streams, and other <br />resources is included in Subsidence Volume 3. <br />Topsoil - Rules 2.04.9, 2.05.3(5), 2.05.4(2)(d), 4.06 <br />Information pertaining to soil resources and their inventory is presented in the PAP, Section 2.04 <br />of Volume 1 and in the Soils Appendix of Volume 9. Information pertaining to topsoil handling <br />and redistribution is in Section 2.05 of Volume 1. <br />Disturbance at the Bowie No. 1 Mine commenced in late 1975 but has presently ceased due to the <br />cessation of mining. The initial development work of the Bowie No. 1 East Mine benches and the <br />storage and loadout areas occurred from October 1975 to mid -1976, prior to the enactment of the <br />Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act of 1976 and its topsoil salvaging requirements. Due to <br />the steep slopes in these areas, no topsoil was salvaged. Since enactment of the 1976 law, topsoil <br />has been salvaged from disturbed areas. <br />Soils within those portions of the permit area which have been or will be disturbed by surface <br />operations and facilities are generally deep, encouraging surface runoff. As a result, the water <br />erosion hazard is often high. Generally, available water capacities are high, reflecting the potential <br />of these soils to store water for plant use. Topsoil layers at the existing facilities are shallow, <br />ranging from about two (2) inches to eight (8) inches; surface textures are generally loams or clay <br />loams with subsoils ranging from clay loams to clays. However, at the Roatcap Creek (West Mine) <br />facilities soils are much deeper, ranging from two (2) feet to four (4) feet in many places. Basaltic <br />cobbles and stones are common throughout theprofile ofmost soils. The general area is somewhat <br />susceptible to landslides, especially in the steeper topography of the East Mine bench area and, as <br />such, the continual sloughing of colluvial material in this area impairs horizon development. <br />Vegetation Rules 2.04.10, 2.05.4(2)(e), 4.15 <br />Information pertaining to vegetation baseline studies is presented in the PAP, Section 2.04 of <br />Volume 1 and in the Vegetation Appendix of Volume 9A. Information pertaining to the <br />revegetation plan and vegetation success criteria is in Section 2.05 of Volume 1 and in the <br />Vegetation Appendix of Volume 9A. <br />Initial disturbance at the mine occurred prior to any requirements for preparation of vegetation <br />inventories; therefore, portions of this mine site were not surveyed. However, as new areas were <br />proposed to be disturbed, they were first inventoried. <br />12 <br />