2019-07-24_PERMIT FILE - C1981008A (6)

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native vegetation types and wildlife habitat include the upland sagebrush, pinyon juniper, and areas of riparian vegetation associated with Tuttle Draw and several small tributaries. It is probable that irrigation tailwater has created or significantly enhanced areas of riparian vegetation. 3.0 Historic and Existing Land Use on the Permit Area The original permit area consisted of lands north of Tuttle Draw mined by predecessor companies from 1958 to 1983. This original area, as modified by reductions due to final bond releases, is now known as NH1 portion of the current permit. In the early 1980's, one of the predecessor companies (Peabody) permitted, but did not mine an area south of Tuttle Draw and west of the Town of Nucla. This area, labeled Nucla East by Peabody, is now known as New Horizon 2 (NH2) by ERMR. The historic land use on the principal (NH2) area has been mostly irrigated pasture and native rangeland. Existing use for NH2 is irrigated fields (mostly irrigated pastureland), abandoned irrigated fields, native rangeland, mining disturbances, mine -related activities, and reclamation. In most cases, pre -mine irrigation methods utilized flooding the land using gravity. Sideroll irrigation, which is more efficient, was generally not used. The much smaller NH area is the remaining parcel of land from pre-ERMR mining that has not yet been granted a full bond release. This mine permit area and surrounding released land, prior to 1958 when mining activities were begun by the Edna Coal Company, was fairly well split between irrigated agricultural land and native rangeland/wildlife habitat. Irrigated agricultural land is meant to encompass irrigated pasture, cropland and hayland. These are differentiated by the amount of alfalfa in the fields as well as the intensity of the management of the irrigation. By the time Peabody purchased the Navajo/Nucla Mine in 1963, nearly all irrigated lands south of the east -west county road had been abandoned and approximately one quarter of the present permit area was affected by mining activities. In May 1983, Surface Mine Permit No. C-008-81 was approved for the Nucla Mine (Original NH 1). At that time, approximately two-thirds of the original permit area was affected by mining activities and all irrigated lands south of the county bypass road and west of the north -south county road had been abandoned. The Nucla Mine (composed of the Nucla and Nucla East areas) was purchased by ERMR in 1992. The name was changed to the New Horizon Mine (with New Horizon 1 and New Horizon 2 areas corresponding to the Nucla and Nucla East areas respectively). Existing land use on the NH 1 mine permit area is predominated by irrigated pasture, native rangeland and reclamation of old coal mine areas. It has been a normal practice for farmers to historically move water from one field to another within their property or sell water to other people in the area to allow them to irrigate another field for some time interval. Map 2.04.3 Pre -Mine Land Use shows the uses recorded by Peabody for the permit area south of BB Road and east of 2700 Road. This was the original August 2018 (TR -85) 2.04.3-3