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• be 1,168 pounds/acre. Since soils and site conditions are identical for the two areas, this yield <br />must be the potential for the areas identified as cropland within the permit area. Therefore <br />baseline information may be assumed to be similar for the two areas. <br />Farmsteads. Orchards, Facilities, and Other Tvpes. The remainder of the study area includes <br />farmsteads, orchards, support facilities, roads, ponds, irrigation ditches, and disturbed areas. <br />Because of the intensity of activity in the area, the number of operators within the study area, and <br />the length of time that these activities have been ongoing in the area, a significant amount of the <br />study area is included within this category (approximately 16 percent of the study area and 8 <br />percent of the permit area). <br />There are eleven active farmsteads or homesites within the study area and three inactive or <br />abandoned farmsteads. Five farmsteads or homesites occur within the permit area. The size of <br />these range from over three acres down to less than one acre and include buildings, yards, corrals <br />and other support facilities (see Figure 4-4, background, and Figure 4-8, right background, <br />Peabody Appendix 10-4). In the western half, and a portion of the southeast corner of the study <br />area, the farmsteads and homesites have been established on the better soils and more gentle <br />• topography of the study area. The remainder are located on poorer soils that tend to be rocky and <br />shallow, though the topography tends to be relatively gentle. Vegetation in these areas consists <br />of a variety of annual and perennial exotic species, as well as remnant examples of the native <br />plant populations. Dominating the vegetation are large native and exotic shade trees, as well as <br />ornamental and exotic shrubs. Peabody Appendix 10-1 "Species List" lists the more prominent <br />species found in these areas. A detailed survey for herbaceous species was not conducted in the <br />farmstead areas because of the numerous garden, ornamental, and other exotic species normally <br />found in these areas. <br />Six abandoned orchards occur within the study (see midground of Figure 4-9, Peabody Appendix <br />10-4). The dominant species in these orchards is apple (Malus sylvestris), with peach (Prunus <br />persica) and apricot (Prunus armeniaca) also occasionally present. The orchards were <br />established coincidentally with establishment of the Nucla community and mining activities in the <br />Telluride Mining District where much of the harvested fruit was sold to the mining community. By <br />the 1940's the market was essentially defunct, and the orchards began to be abandoned <br />(Johnson, personal communication, May, 1987). Interviews with operators who live or operate <br />• (REVISED 8/15/00) 2.04.10 - 47 <br />