2023-04-19_PERMIT FILE - C1981010A

• Permit No: C1981010A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 4/19/2023
• Doc Name: pages 2-170 to 2-181
• Section_Exhibit Name: 2.5 Land Use
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

2.5.3 Hydrologic Capabilities
Premining hydrologic conditions describing surface and groundwater, water yield and quality, aquifer
characteristics, ground water geology, and recharge potential are presented in detail in Sections 2.7 and
4.8.
2.5.4 Land Use and Capabilities for the PR -7 Expansion Area
The lands within and adjacent to the PR -7 expansion area are used for rangeland and wildlife habitat.
The land is privately owned and there are no public lands or parks within or adjacent to the PR -7 Mine
Expansion Area. There are no lands within or adjacent to the PR -7 Mine Expansion Area associated with
the National Parks System, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National System of Trails, the
National Wilderness Preservation System, the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, National Recreation Areas
and National Forests. There are currently no farmland uses within the area and there has been no
farmland use of the area for the last five years.
Three major plant community types were delineated within the PR -7 Mine Expansion Area, consisting of
the Mountain Shrub, Big Sagebrush and Grassland vegetation types. Seventeen soil types were
delineated within the PR -7 area. These vegetation and soil types and their vegetative productivity in an
unfavorable precipitation year were defined using an online soils and vegetation database called the
Web Soil Survey (WSS) hosted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service at
http://websoiIsurvey.nres.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm. The vegetative productivity for each soil type
is shown on Table 2.5-5.
The use of vegetative productivity only for determining carrying capacity for cattle has two weaknesses.
First, the use of the WSS does not take into consideration the condition or rangeland health of the
vegetation. Second, the WSS does not take into consideration grazeable acres and areas cattle will favor
and considers all areas to be the same. A field evaluation is required to fully understand the grazeability
of the acreage.
The area of PR -7 was evaluated for land capability for cattle grazing as part of a larger study of land
capability and grazing capacity completed by TMI's Williams Fork Land Company. The PR -7 land contains
steep, rugged, and shrub -covered hills on its northern areas, along with open grassy meadows on its
southern boundary. Based on an assessment of the existing vegetation for the area, the northern
reaches of the tract offer high quality thermal and hiding cover for big game animals on slopes and
aspects that are varied. The southern area contains open meadows and would be well suited for cattle
grazing. There is no perennial source of water in the majority of the PR -7 expansion area but there are
sources of water available to the west in active and reclaimed mine areas and to the east of Moffat
County Road 33 which serves as the eastern boundary of PR -7.
Based on the field evaluation, only approximately 86 acres of the 795.71 acres (or approximately 11% of
the area) would be grazeable by cattle. Grazeable areas are the open meadows in the southern area of
PR -7. Much of the PR -7 land is too rugged and densely vegetated to be used for cattle grazing. The
primary soil map units for the grazeable areas were Map Unt 99, Hesperus fine sandy loam, dry, 2 to 15
% slopes, and Map Unit 114, Lamphier fine sandy loam, 3 to 25 % slopes.
For purposes of determining carrying capacity for cattle based on the field evaluation, the following
assumptions were made.
• The productivity of the 86 acres of grazeable land was assumed to be 1,350 pounds per acre per
year for a dry precipitation year (an average of 1,500 lbs/ac/yr for Lamphier fine sandy loam, 3
to 25 % slopes and 1,200 lbs/ac/yr for Hesperus fine sandy loam, dry, 2 to 15 % slopes).
2-181 PR' ��
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