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- _ - <br />Revised Junk 10, 1988 <br />• ~. <br />5/~ S,z~; o,, ~ -- <br />`~ RECLAMATION PLAN <br />' Present use of the Bourg Property is rangeland. The land has <br />been used for many years for livestock grazing and <br />wildlife habitat. Walden Coal Company proposes to reclaim the <br />open pit and the disturbed areas and return them to this use. <br />The forage producing value of these lands is rather low. This <br />is due partly to rocky ridges underlain by sandstone outcrops <br />where the soil is thin and where the vegetative cover is <br />scant or missing. The poor condition of the vegetation also <br />seems due to poor or no management, a condition which is <br />repeated consistantly on lands surrounding the permitted <br />property. <br />The existing land uses and the land use classifications under <br />local law, according to Kent Crowder, Jackson County <br />Administrator-Planner, are unimproved dry grazing and oil and <br />gas fields. Mr. Crowder notes that the dry grazing and oil <br />and gas field activities occur on these lands <br />simultaneously. <br />Post Mine Land Use <br />The proposed post-mine land use will be the same as the <br />pre-mine land use, livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. <br />The contour of the land will be much gentler than before <br />mining. The post-mine contours have been designed to reduce <br />sediment loss due to erosion and to facilitate grazing at the <br />r ~uest_of the landowners (see letter dated July 23, 1979, <br />~a ~ F~ of the permit). The utility and capacity of the <br />i~ declaimed land to support any other land use is doubtful. The <br />surface owners have informed Walden Coal that they plan to <br />return the property back to its original land use. <br />Restoring the land to its present use seems not only <br />desirable, but practically the only feasible restoration <br />plan. Therefore, no alternative vegetation plan will be <br />considered. <br />The following reclamation plan should reestablish the present <br />land use. The forage preferences of livestock and wildlife <br />are similar. Sagebrush will be emphasized in the revegetation <br />plan to preserve the habitat of a nearby sage grouse <br />F-1 <br /> <br /> <br />