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is found east of the permit area in the mountains of the Park Range. The Marr Mine <br />operations will have an insignificant impact on threatened and endangered species. <br />Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan <br />Kerr Coal opened the Marr Strip in 1974. The mine is located ten miles east of Walden, <br />Colorado, in Jackson County. The mine lies west and southwest of the Canadian River on the <br />east side of North Park and covers 1,645 acres (measured from mine plan map). The Kerr <br />loadout facility is adjacent to the Union Pacific railroad south of Walden. The facility was <br />constructed on fill in the wetlands of the Illinois River and encompasses nine acres. <br />The Marr Strip produces coal from the Sudduth seam with a truck and shovel operation. The <br />coal dips to the east and northeast at 68'. The mine plan described the extraction of coal <br />from a triangular cut, 265' deep. Kerr is operating two pits, the 720 and Pit 1. The 720 pit is <br />being actively reclaimed and coal production in Pit 1 will continue until January 1993 when <br />coal reserves in this pit will be exhausted. Production has averaged 250,000 tons per year, <br />ranging from a high of 750,000 tons of production in 1980 and a low of 35,000 tons production <br />in 1988. Production in 1991 was 56,176 tons and production for 1992 as of the end of August <br />was 32,314 tons (48,400 tons average annual production for 1992). <br />The coal in Pit 1 will run out in January of 1993, and the mine does not plan to open another <br />pit unless additional coal contracts are obtained. The current permit application specifies <br />mining only in Pit 1, and in order to progress to Pit 2 and 3 the mine must submit a permit <br />revision application (pages 780-1R, 2Ra and SR of application). Based on the 1991 Annual <br />Reclamation Report there are currently 353.77 acres of disturbance at the mine. The mine has <br />not disturbed additional area in 1992. <br />The coal is trucked to the Kerr tipple, south of Walden, where it is stockpiled, crushed, <br />screened and then loaded out. The tipple area is located on a fill which has placed the tipple <br />area surface at 8,060 feet. The 100-year flood level is at 8,046 feet. A lumber sawmill is <br />located just north of the tipple area on higher ground. Sawmill junk and plant wastes appear <br />to have been pushed downslope over the years forming a bench and awell-defined bluff <br />overlooking the tipple area. An irrigation ditch physically separates this encroaching bluff <br />from the main part of the tipple area. A wedge shaped part of the permit area, 500 foot long <br />by 25 foot wide, lays north of the irrigation ditch at the northwest corner of the permit area. <br />Water for dust suppression activities is pumped from a well with an absolute decree of 8 acre <br />feet per year. <br />The hydrologic balance of the mine plan area is to be maintained in part, by a series of <br />fourteen sediment ponds, various drainage ditches and discharge structures. To date, seven <br />sediment ponds have been constructed. This runoff containment system appears to be <br />adequately designed and constructed in accordance with Colorado law, 34-33-120 and Rule <br />Marr Strip Mine, C-80-006 11 December 9, 1992 <br />