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.. ~. • . III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII COLORADO WESTMORELAND INC. P. O. Box E, Paonia, Colorado 61428 C 303-527-4135 August 13, 1960 Mr. William R. Beavers y ; .?ly_.~ Office of Surface Mining Technical Analysis b Research Division 1020 15th Street Denver, Colorado 80202 Mr. Pete Evans Colorado Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203 Dear Mr. Beavers and Mr. Evans: On August 7, 1980, Ms. Patricia Farnsworth of Colorado Westmoreland Inc. (CWI) and Richard F. Harner of Harner-White Ecological Consultants, Inc. (HWEC) met in your offices to discuss a proposed vegetation inventory of the Orchard Valley Mine located in Paonia, Colorado. Later on the same day the scope of work for the vegetation inventory of the Orchard Valley Mine was discussed with Mr. Rick Mills of the Colorado De pactment of Natural Resources. The purpose of this let- ter is to document the results of those discussions. Ms. Farnsworth indicated that the Orchard Valley Mine is an underground coal mine with portal facilities located in the pinyon-juniper vegetation of Section 24. Loadout facilities are loc.lted in an orchard which is owned and operated by CWI in Section 29. Access to the portal facilities is attained by the Stevens Gulch Road which also serves as a forest service access road. In Section 25 a parking lot for employees at the portal facilities is located in mixed shrubs vegetation type. As part of the mine's facilities a powerline/waterline traverses Chrough oakbrush vegetation in Sections 13 and 24. The line will be revegetated; however, the powerline and well house will remain after CWI ceases operations because it serves as a powerline for a local rancher. Ms. Farnsworth explained that total surface area of the Orchard Valley Mine consists of approximately 35 acres with 11 acres being occupied by the Loadout facility, 4 acres for the parking lot, and approximately 20 acres in the portal facilities location. The following scope of work for the vegetation inventory has resulted from the discussions. It was decided that field data collection would not begin in 1980, but would be initiated in 1981. It was felt that the majority of the herbaceous production in the pinyon-juniper vegetation type could not be obtained at this late date. Therefore, CWI will be submitting the proposed scope of work to both the Office of Surface Mining and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources as part of its requirements. Both Mr. Beavers and Mc. Mills indicated that submittal of a proposed plan without any vegetation data at this time would not affect CWI Iswimn a IM11411 i1 h11 ~~~~~ i i JP. ~ ~I I