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4.2 POSTMINING LAND USE <br />The primary objective of Trappers redamation program is to return the affected areas to land uses as <br />high as or higher than those in effect prior to mining. As described in Section 2.5, the proposed mine <br />plan area has three signficaM land uses, i.e. farming, grazing of domestic livestock and use by witdl'rfe. <br />Pursuant to consuRations with appropriate land management agenctes and local land owners, Trapper <br />will restore these land uses along with added emphasis on watershed management. Appendix O <br />includes the documentation of these consultations. <br />4.2.1 Farming <br />About 1,700 acres of lands within the proposed mine plan area were used for dryland farming prior to <br />the Trapper Mine. Trapper has disturbed about 593 acres of this cropland through 1996 and all 593 <br />acres have been reGaimed. Fainting is restricted to areas where slopes and soils are amenable to <br />tilling and harvesting crops (refer to Section 2.5.2 for further detail on premine condltions). Trappers <br />reGamation program will restore (arming to these 593 acres and any additional cropland acreage <br />disturbed in the future following the specfic reclamation criteria as detailed in Section 3.6.2. Mining and <br />recamation will result in some boundary shifts of cropland areas but the total acres replaced to cropland <br />will remain the same as before mining. The expected postmining cropland boundaries are depicted on <br />• Map M46. Pre-mining twundaries are shown on Map M28. All areas not illustrated on Map M48 as <br />cropland will be returned to rangeland postmining land use. <br />The principal cash crop for the mine plan area was winter wheat. In an effort to reestablish more <br />permanent cropland vegetation, Trapper has taken the initiative to rep1aM many of the previous wheat areas <br />to a pasture and hayland crop. Nonetheless, Trapper's topsoil replacement criteria for areas reGaimed to <br />cropland will result in a suitable growth medium for other potentially valuable crops, such as alfalfa and <br />appropriate pasture grasses. This combination was inltialry tried on a 20-acre test area seeded in 1979. <br />Based upon the results of that trial, Trapper Mine elected to return croplands directly to legumes and <br />appropriate pasture grasses instead of winter wheat. This practice has resulted in less wind and water <br />erosion as well as improving organic matter content in the soils and increasing nitrogen. <br />• <br /> <br />:'.'MAY 1 31998 <br />