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• Colorado Westmoreland Inc. (CWI) owns and operates an underground coal <br />mining operation ,,, the Orchard Valley Mine, near Faonia, Colorado. '[`ie mine has <br />been in operation since 1976 and is currently producing approximately 1.3 <br />million tons of bituminous coal annually. Zhe majority of the coal is fenerally <br />owned and mining leases are administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The <br />company also holds leases on some privately owned coal. <br />• <br />I •~ <br />CWI proposes an additional, long-term lease extending the mining area by <br />approximately 15 square miles. It will surround the existing lease area on the <br />west, north, and east (Plate 1). Coal reserves in the proposed lease area are <br />owned by the federal government, and the surface land is divided between private <br />and federal ownership. <br />Following acquisition of the long-term lease, CWI will submit an <br />application to mine to the state of Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division <br />(CMLRD). As part of the permitting process, the CMIRD must make a determination <br />as to the existence and/or extent of all vial valley floors (AVF) [Rule <br />2.06.8(3)(6)]. 'This report contains the results of an initial field <br />investigation of the proposed permit area and adjacent areas and provides <br />geologic, hydrologic, soils, vegetation, and land use information to be used by <br />the CMLRD in the first phase of the alluvial valley floor (AVF) determination. <br />METHODS <br />Alluvial valley floors, as defined by CMLRD, means the unconsolidated <br />stream-laid deposits holding streams with water availability sufficient for <br />subirrigation or flood irrigation in agricultural activities. 'T'his does not <br />include upland areas which are generally overlain by a thin veneer of collwial <br />deposits canposed chiefly of debris from sheet erosion, deposits formed by <br />unconcentrated runoff or slope wash, together with talus, other mass movement <br />accumulations, and windblown deposits. 'lhe criteria for determining the <br />existence of an AVF are as follows: <br />1. If the unconsolidated streamlaid deposits holding <br />streams are present [Rule 2. 06.8(3)(c)(i)]; <br />