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<br />24 <br /> <br />less than one percent of the study area and includes the town of Somerset; 15) Industrial, <br />comprising less than one percent of the study area which includes the Elk Creek Mine, the Bear <br />No. 3 Mine, railroad sidings, and mine vents; and 16) Agricultural, comprising less than one <br />percent of the study area. <br /> <br />The two vegetation types that occur within the area to be affected by surface facilities are a dry <br />meadow type and a moist, mixed shrub type. <br /> <br />In a 1994 Environmental Analysis (EA) produced by the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area of <br />the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on the Jumbo Mountain coal lease, one plant species, <br />the Grand Mesa penstemon (Penstemon mensarum, a Federal category 2 species) was noted as <br />having the potential to occur in the area. The EA further required a threatened and endangered <br />plant survey prior to any surface disturbance. Additional and updated vegetation information <br />was collected and submitted with the Apache Rocks Permit Revision. Although the species is <br />abundant on the MCC property, no operations currently threaten the plants. <br /> <br />In 1996, a baseline vegetation study of the Sylvester Gulch facilities area was conducted. The <br />report is presented in Exhibit 32A of the permit document. The study area for the baseline <br />survey incorporated the lower drainage basin of Sylvester Gulch from the mine access road south <br />approximately 1.75 miles along the drainage. The three lower drainage branches of Sylvester <br />Gulch were included. The study area was a linear corridor, including the drainage bottom, <br />terraces and sideslopes, averaging 300 feet wide. The study area also included the steep slope <br />west of the Sylvester Gulch channel and north of the Dry Meadow Reference Area. <br />Five major vegetation communities were identified in the Sylvester Gulch facilities expansion <br />area: oakbrush, aspen, riparian, dry meadow, and Douglas fir communities. The first three of <br />these communities were sampled for vegetative cover, vegetative productivity, woody plant <br />density and species composition. The dry meadow community was found to be significantly <br />altered by cattle grazing within the study area. Since this community had been sampled <br />previously, no further data was collected. The Douglas fir community was anticipated to be <br />impacted to a minor degree with disturbance in this community limited to less than five percent <br />of the affected area. Therefore, no quantitative data was collected for the Douglas Fir <br />community. <br /> <br />Additional information on vegetation in the PR-14 project area is contained in the copy of the <br />Federal Environmental Impact Statement for the Deer Creek Shaft and E Seam Methane <br />Drainage Wells Project which can be found in Exhibit 79 of the permit application. <br /> <br />With PR-15, Map 42 was updated to provide information about the vegetation communities in <br />the expanded permit area.