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Per 43 CFR 3715.2, activities that are the reason for an operator's occupancy <br /> must: <br /> 6. Be reasonably incident; <br /> 7. Constitute substantially regular work; <br /> 8. Be reasonably calculated to lead to the extraction and beneficiation of <br /> minerals; <br /> 9. Involve observable on-the-ground activity that BLM may verify under <br /> § 3715.7; and <br /> 10. Use appropriate equipment that is presently operable, subject to the <br /> need for reasonable assembly,maintenance,repair or fabrication of <br /> replacement parts. <br /> Per 43 CFR 3715.2-1,in addition to the requirements specified in part 3715.2,the <br /> occupancy must involve one or more of the following: <br /> 6. Protecting exposed, concentrated or otherwise accessible valuable <br /> minerals from theft or loss; <br /> 7. Protecting from theft or loss appropriate, operable equipment which is <br /> regularly used, is not readily portable, and cannot be protected by means <br /> other than occupancy; <br /> 8. Protecting the public from appropriate, operable equipment which is <br /> regularly used,is not readily portable, and if left unattended, creates a hazard <br /> to public safety; <br /> 9. Protecting the public from surface uses,workings, or improvements <br /> which,if left unattended,create a hazard to public safety; or <br /> 10. Being located in an area so isolated or lacking in physical access as to <br /> require the mining claimant,operator, or workers to remain on site in order to <br /> work a full shift of a usual and customary length. A full shift is ordinarily 8 <br /> hours and does not include travel time to the site from a community or area in <br /> which housing may be obtained. <br /> b.Protective/Mitigation Measures: The proposal appears to meet all requirements of <br /> 43 CFR 3715.2 and meets items#2 and#3 of 43 CFR 3715.2-1. Therefore,no <br /> additional measures are needed. <br /> 2. Soils <br /> a. Impacts: The Proposed Action would essentially remove the topsoil <br /> (approximately 12 inches)from 0.6 acres and process the material underneath by <br /> hydraulically sorting the gold out of the alluvium. This process totally destroys <br /> the soil structure and disrupts the soil organisms and processes. Due to the nature <br /> of the action it is imperative that both interim reclamation and final reclamation <br /> be done properly in order to return the site to its pre-disturbed condition. <br /> In order to preserve the functionality of the soils,the topsoil needs to be separated <br /> and stockpiled until it is used for reclamation. Then at the time of reclamation <br /> the soil would need to be placed back in the order it was removed,thereby <br /> keeping the original A,B,and C horizons. In order to do this,more than one soil <br /> stockpile would be needed, i.e. one for the A and one for the B horizons. Due to <br /> the sorting process that the C horizon would undergo,replicating the same <br /> manner of sorting in this horizon would be extremely difficult. In the C horizon, <br /> the fine material would likely be difficult to recover in the same manner as the <br />