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Revised <br />October 16, 1981 <br />I • Land Condition, Capability, and Productivit <br />The present condition of the permit area can be described as poor to <br />fair for rangeland conditions. A combination of the abandoned <br />underground waste piles and over-grazing by land owners have led to this <br />condition. <br />The soils within the permit area are currently being utilized for <br />rangeland purposes; the agronomic usefullness of these soils is limited <br />to usage as rangeland. Commercial plant productions such as utilizing <br />the area for cropland would be extremely limited within the permit <br />boundary. Present productivity of the lands, estimated at between 500 <br />and 1,000 air dried pounds of foliage per acre, is largely determined <br />by the extent and nature of the present vegetation found growing within <br />the area. The predominate limitation for agronomic purposes in the <br />permit area is the lack of water. <br />• Hydrological Capability <br />From existing information, it appears the available surface water <br />supplies in the permit area and adjacent area are limited in both <br />quantity and quality. No springs or other ground water discharge points <br />occur in the mine plan area. The surface water supplies are limited by <br />flow in the ephemeral drainages and a small number of ponds or <br />impoundments found in the area. These limited water supplies and <br />productivity in the permit area and adjacent area necessitate that the <br />land use be restricted to rangeland. <br />Capability of the Land to Support a Variety of Uses <br />Physical and social constraints at the present time severly limit the <br />variety of uses suitable for lands within the permit area. The <br />potential of the area to support alternative uses other than rangeland <br />is somewhat questionable. Because of the permit areas' proximity to <br /> <br />~8 <br />