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