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agricultural practices. The juniper community covers 1.8 acres. This type is actually an <br />agricultural sub-type as the herbaceous understory is alfalfa hay meadow. Utah juniper trees <br />are well scattered. The riparian community covers 1.9 acres and occurs along drainages. <br />Six general vegetation types are found on the New Horizon Mine 2 area: irrigated pasture, <br />irrigated hay land, irrigated cropland (small grains), swale/drainage, sagebrush/grass, and <br />various miscellaneous types related to old farmsteads, abandoned orchards, and disturbed <br />areas. The New Horizon 2 area is more intensively used for agricultural purposes than the <br />New Horizon Mine 1 area was. Irrigated agricultural land {pasture, hayland, and crophtnd) <br />comprises 130.9 acres, or 59.5 percent of the total 219.9-acre permit area. The <br />Swale/drainage vegetation type accounts for 56.3 acres, or 25.6 percent of the total proposed <br />permit area addition, while the upland area sagebnrsh/grass type covers 24.1 acres, or 11.0 <br />percent. Miscellaneous types account for the remainder of the land area (8.6 acres, or <br />3.9 percent). <br />The New Horizon Mine 1 permit area and surrounding area is used by a large variety of <br />wildlife including coyotes, fox, mule deer, elk (in the winter) and numerous bud species. <br />Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan <br />New Horizon Mine 1 <br />The presently permitted New Horizon Mine l encompasses 426.6 acres of which 145.7 acres <br />was affected my mining activities. Several areas of ungraded "pre-law" spoils existed when <br />Peabody acquired the mine in 1963. These areas were reclaimed in conjunction with existing <br />mine operations. Since 1986 and inclusive of 1988, coal was removed at a combined total of <br />311,750 tons from four different areas. It is projected that coal yields from the New <br />Horizon Mine 2 area in 1993 through 1998 will total 373,600 tons per year. <br />Prior to the mine temporarily ceasing operations in 1983, coal was mined using two five-yard <br />draglines to remove overburden. Since reactivation of mining operations in late 1986, <br />Peabody changed to using dozers and scrapers for overburden removal activities. Two coal <br />seams were removed from Mine Areas 1 and 4, wherras one coal seam was removed from <br />Mine Areas 2 and 3. The upper coal seam was previously mined by Peabody in Mine Areas <br />2 and 3 under interim permit 75-36 issued by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board. <br />After the coal seams were recovered; the pits were backfilled and graded. The regraded area <br />approximates the original surface contours. The area has been topsoiled and revegetated. To <br />date, no bond release has been requested. <br />New Horizon Mine 2 <br />In February 1993, Western Fuels of Colorado commenced surface mining at the Mine 2 <br />area. The annual production is approximately 400,000 tons per year. At this time, <br />concurrent reclamation activities are about to commence. Topsoil salvaging depths and plans <br />are detailed in Tab 9 of the permit revision application; however, actual topsoil recovery has <br />been less than projected due to discrepancies found in the Peabody topsoil depth estimates. <br />10 <br />