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Cultural Resources Impacts to cultural resources could result from surface disturbing activities and subsidence. Areas are surveyed prior to disturbance to prevent or mitigate impacts to cultural resources. Impacts from subsidence are less well defined. Subsidence monitoring will continue. Subsidence could adversely affect cultural resources in unsurveyed areas; t]~erefore, a condition requiring studies of resources in unsurveyed areas that may be impacted by subsidence has been added to the mining plan approval. No significant impacts have been identified to cultural resources in the life~f-mine area. Impacts of Alternative 2, Disapproval If the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine mining plan, as modified, is disapproved, the impacts described for Alternative 1, Approval Without Special Federal Conditions, would not occur. Disapproval of the mining plan, as modified, would result in the cessation of mining Federal coal unless an alternative mining plan was submitted and approved by the Assistant Secretary. Operations would continue on non-Federal lands until reserves were exhausted and final reclamation complete. Impacts of Alternative 3, Approval with Special Federal Conditions The preferred alternative is approval with special Federal conditions. The impact analysis of Alternative 1, Approval Without Conditions, identified certain impacts that could and should be mitigated by the addition of special conditions to the mining plan approval. Those special conditions are discussed below. Special condition 1 was included in the previous mining plan approval and is retained on this approval. This special condition requires additional cultural resource studies should OSMRE, in consultation with Colorado MLRD, and the SHPO determine that subsidence may adversely affect known or unrecorded cultural sites. Special condition 2 through 4 were also included in the previous mining plan approved, and are retained here. These special conditions limit disturbance in eagle and Cooper's hawk nest buffer zones and require BLM and USFWS approvals before affecting aquatic habitat of the North Fork of the Gunnison River and within a 1/8-mile riparian buffer zone. No additional special conditions were placed on this decision. The BLM identified a concern with coal recovery due to the size of the buffer zones for subsidence control to mitigate impacts to surface water. Stipulations 4 and 19 on Colorado MLRD's permit require respectively that, the subsidence protection play for Minnesota Creek be based on subsidence monitoring information, and that future permit submittals utilize the most current subsidence monitoring information with particular attention focused on designated safe buffer areas. In addition a mining plan approval will be required for the mining of these areas and BLM can review these issues at that time. Therefore, a stipulation to the mining plan was not needed. -9-