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<br />J. LAND USE <br />Table II.J-1 summarizes land ownership and use in Rio Blanco County. As <br />shown in the table, over 70 percent of the county is federally owned. The <br />greatest amount of this federal land is controlled by the Bureau of Land <br />Management. The remainder of the land is distributed among private, state <br />and county ownership. (Northwest Colorado Coal, 1976) <br />The major land uses in Rio Blanco County are: fossil fuel production, <br />ranching, forestry and agriculture. Wildlife and livestock grating are the <br />primary uses of public land managed by the BLM. In the project area, the <br />land is presently used as winter range for sheep. Permits are issued to <br />• ranchers for the purpose of livestock grazing. The average forage <br />production potential on rangeland in the project area is about 12-15 acres <br />per animal unit month (AUM). An AUM is the amount of forage needed to <br />sustain the equivalent of one cow or cox/calf unit, or five sheep for one <br />month. (BLM, 1979) <br />Various rights-of-way for roads, pipelines and transmission lines are <br />located in the general project area. State Highway 64 runs along the White <br />River between Rangely and Meeker. Other roads in the vicinity are U.S. 40, <br />which runs east and west to the north of the project area, and Colorado 139 <br />which extends south from Rangely. The county maintains unsurfaced roads in <br />the area including the one that crosses the mine site shown in Maps 1 and 2. <br />A natural gas pipeline is located to the southeast of State Highway 64. An <br />existing transmission line also on the south side of State Highway 64 will <br />be used to supply the mine with electrical power. <br />II.J-1 <br />