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Wildlife Extensive inventories of wildlife in or neaz the Kerr permit azea are documented in Table 33-39 of the permit application. The accompanying discussion is found on pages 779-86aa through 779-104. Mule deer, antelope, Richardson ground squirrels, sage grouse, and golden eagles are likely to be seen at the mine area, while Canadian geese, mallazds, and pintails can be readily observed from the tipple area. No critical habitats have been identified within the permit area, although a lazge wintering ground for a sage grouse lek is located two miles west of the Marr Mine, and antelope frequently winter in the bottom of Bush and Williams Draw. Alone cow moose was observed once within the permit azea in 1992. No threatened or endangered species occupy the permit area, although bald eagles are frequently observed on the road between Walden and the mine. State-listed threatened and endangered species found in North Park include the Johnny darter, white pelican, American peregrine falcon, and greater sandhill crane. The Johnny darter has been reported in the Canadian, Dlinois, and Michigan Rivers. The white pelican and greater sandhill crane are occasional migrants along the IDinois River near the loadout. The American peregrine falcon is found east of the permit area in the mountains of the Pazk Range. The Marr Mine operations will have an insignificant impact on threatened and endangered species. DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATIONS AND RECLAMATION PLANS : -' : ' Kerr Coal opened the Marr Strip Mine in 1974. The mine is located [en miles east of Walden,' Colorado, in Jackson County. The mine lies west and southwest of the Canadian River on the East Side of North Park, with a permit area covering approximately 1600 acres (measured frorh Map 2). The Kerr loadout facility is adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad south of Walden. The facility was constructed on fill in the wetlands of the Dlinois River and encompasses nine acres. The Marr Strip Mine produced coal from the Sudduth seam with a wck-and-shovel operation. The coal dips to the east and northeast at 68°. The mine plan described the extraction of coal from a triangular cut, 265 feet deep. Kerr operated two pits, the 720 and Pit 1. Coal extraction from the 720 Pit ceased in 1983 and from Pit 1 in 1993. Annual production over time ranged from a high of. 750,000 tons in 1980 and a low of 35,000 tons in 1988. Production in 1992 was 54,918 tons, and in 1993 was 3,528 tons for the single month of January. Based on the 1995 Annual Reclamation Report, there are currently 387.20 acres of disturbance at the mine. In the past, coal was trucked [o the Kerr tipple, south of Walden, where it was stockpiled, crushed, screened, and loaded out. The tipple area is located on fill that has placed the tipple area surface at 8060 feet. The 100-yeaz flood level is at 8046 feet. A lumber sawmill was located just north of the tipple area on higher ground. Sawmill junk and plant wastes appeaz to have been pushed downslope over the years, forming a bench and awell-defined bluff overlooking the tipple area. An irrigation ditch physically separates this encroaching bluff from the main part of the tipple area. The lumber sawmill waste was cleaned up by the company in the late summer and early fall of 2001. The area was cleaned, covered, topsoiled, seeded and mulched. Awedge-shaped part of the pemtit area, measuring 500 feet long by 25 feet wide, lies north of the imgation ditch at the Marr Mine Permit Renewal 04 11 January, 2002 -8-