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availability of adequate irrigation water, irrigated hayland, pasture, and cropland, as well as the incidental <br />plant communities resulting from abundant water supplies, will continue to dominate the landscape <br />around Nucla. <br />Methods <br />The presence of specific vegetation types and communities resulting from intensive agricultural land use <br />and irrigation dictated unique approaches to vegetation baseline sampling within the study area at the <br />proposed New Horizon 2 Mine. Surtace mining operations normally occur on native rangelands in the <br />Western U.S., and only rarely involve agricultural lands. General discussions on sampling methodologies <br />and intensities, as well as vegetation type delineations, were carried out with representatives of the Office <br />of Mined Land Reclamation (OMLR) beginning in February 1987. A letter to the OMLR on June 15, 1987 <br />detailed Peabody Coal Company's (Peabody) proposed sampling program for the New Horizon 2 study <br />area. Included in the letter were approximate acreages for the various vegetation or agriculture types <br />and accompanying detailed descriptions of the types and the natural and manmade conditions controlling <br />their expression on the landscape Sampling parameters and intensity were also proposed in the letter. <br />The OMLR response to this proposal was received on August 11, 1987 and specified concurrence for the <br />sampling techniques proposed for the Irrigated Hayland Type, Irrigated Cropland Type, and the <br />• Farmstead, Facilities, Orchards, etc. Questions were raised as to why all parameters (i.e., production, <br />cover, woody plant density) were not sampled for the Irrigated Pasture Type, as well as concern for a <br />lack of adequate sampling intensity in the Swale/Drainage and Rangelands Types. On August 20, 1987 <br />Peabody responded to the OMLR's comments and concerns and provided clarification on several items. <br />Peabody agreed to increase sampling intensity in the Swale/Drainage Type and provided a discussion <br />supporting justification for using ocular cover estimates versus point-intercept cover measurements in the <br />type. Justification for a sampling intensity of 30 samples in the Rangeland Type was also provided in the <br />August 20 letter. It was also brought to the OMLR's attention that the cropland areas within the study <br />area were not going to be cropped during the 1987 growing season. On September 3, 1987 the OMLR <br />responded to Peabody's August 20 correspondence, concurring with the requested sampling intensity in <br />the Rangeland type and the change in cover sampling methodology for the Swale/Drainage Type. Based <br />on the OMLR's comments on the Irrigated Pasture, Peabody completed sampling for all parameters in <br />the type. <br />The issue of reference areas was addressed in both Peabody's and the OMLR's correspondence. It was <br />Peabody's opinion and is WFC's opinion that adequate reclamation success standards can be developed <br />• (REVISED 8/15/00) 2.1)4.10 - 8 <br />