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<br /> Page 2.04.3-4 May 2022 (TR-105) <br />areas of riparian vegetation associated with Tuttle Draw and several small tributaries. It is probable <br />that irrigation tailwater has created or significantly enhanced areas of riparian vegetation. <br /> <br />3.0 Historic and Existing Land Use on the Permit Area <br /> <br />The original permit area consisted of lands north of Tuttle Draw mined by predecessor companies <br />from 1958 to 1983. In the early 1980's, one of the predecessor companies (Peabody) permitted, <br />but did not mine an area south of Tuttle Draw and west of the Town of Nucla. This area, labeled <br />Nucla East by Peabody, is now known as New Horizon Mine by ERMR. The historic land use on <br />the principal New Horizon Mine area has been mostly irrigated pasture and native rangeland. <br />Existing use for New Horizon Mine are irrigated fields (mostly irrigated pastureland), abandoned <br />irrigated fields, native rangeland, mining disturbances, mine-related activities, and reclamation. In <br />most cases, pre-mine irrigation methods utilized flooding the land using gravity. Sideroll irrigation, <br />which is more efficient, was generally not used. <br /> <br />This mine permit area and surrounding released land, prior to 1958 when mining activities were <br />begun by the Edna Coal Company, was fairly well split between irrigated agricultural land and <br />native rangeland/wildlife habitat. Irrigated agricultural land is meant to encompass irrigated <br />pasture, cropland and hayland. These are differentiated by the amount of alfalfa in the fields as <br />well as the intensity of the management of the irrigation. By the time Peabody purchased the <br />Navajo/Nucla Mine in 1963, nearly all irrigated lands south of the east-west county road had been <br />abandoned and approximately one quarter of the present permit area was affected by mining <br />activities. In May 1983, Surface Mine Permit No. C-008-81 was approved for the Nucla Mine. At <br />that time, approximately two-thirds of the original permit area was affected by mining activities <br />and all irrigated lands south of the county bypass road and west of the north-south county road had <br />been abandoned. The Nucla Mine was purchased by ERMR in 1992 and the name was changed to <br />the New Horizon Mine. <br /> <br />It has been a normal practice for farmers to historically move water from one field to another <br />within their property or sell water to other people in the area to allow them to irrigate another field <br />for some time interval. Map 2.04.10 provides the land uses for the permit area. <br /> <br />Table 2.04.3-1 "Acreages by Land Use, New Horizon Mine Permit Area" lists the various land <br />uses within the permit area and the corresponding acreages. A discussion of these various land <br />uses follows. <br /> <br />One area of former Irrigated Hayland is classified as Irrigated Cropland on the Morgan property <br />due to consistent baling of hay and good soils. The majority of soils on the Morgan property in the <br />permit area are prime farmland soils, as determined by the NRCS in 2008. These changes are <br />reflected in the following maps: 2.04.3 Pre-Mine Land. In the 1999 soils and vegetation study <br />conducted by Jim Irvine of IRI, a number of Irrigated Pasture areas and Irrigated Pasture Swales