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<br />mechanical crimping or tacked with one of the various tackitying agents available on the market. <br />Only clean grain straw that is free of noxious or problem weeds will be used. The regrading or <br />stabilizing of rills and gullies is presented at the end of this Tab. <br />Testing. for ~ .. cc ~I R .I mation. The methodologies and tests which will apply to the <br />determination of revegetation success are described below. As stated earlier in Phis section, <br />area residents desire abandoned cropland areas to be returned to cropland. Areas referred to as <br />abandoned cropland were, in most cases, areas that had been in irrigated hayland or pasture <br />prior to mining activities. The stated objective of the postmine land use is to develop dryland <br />pasture or rangeland. Dryland pasture will be those areas reclaimed with 12 io 15 inches of <br />replaced topsoil and which have the potential to be flood irrigated. Rangeland areas are those <br />areas with 6 to 9 inches of replaced topsoil. and are either adjacent to old mine disturbance areas <br />and native rangeland areas or are located in areas that have little or no potential to be flood <br />irrigated in the future (see Tab 21 -Exhibit 21-2 and Exhibit 22-1 from this Tab). <br />The baseline investigations conducted in 1979 (see Tab 10, Addendum 10-1) identified <br />agricultural lands as the most extensive type on the survey area at 44.5 acres'~Production was <br />estimated at 2,000-3,000 Ibs/acre; however, no data was collected and no reference areas were <br />required to be established. The next most abundant type sampled was the grassland type at <br />24.7 acres. This area represented abandoned irrigated hayland and thus was in rather poor <br />condition. The grassland reference area that was estabrished was dominated by weedy or <br />annual species and thus is not desirable to be used as a reference area. The upland sagebrush <br />type, at 6 acres, represented the least disturbed native community in the 1979 study. A <br />reference area for the upland sagebrush type was established on a ridgetop• to the east of <br />NPDES pond 006. The upland sagebrush reference area and approximately 16 acres of this <br />type located in the vicinity of mining areas 2 and 3 were sampled in 1986. The juniper and <br />riparian types identified in the 1979 study totaled just under 4 acres and were determined to be <br />insignificant in their contribution and thus reference areas were not required. <br />Realistically then, only one reference area (the upland sagebrush type), exists for the Nucla Mine. <br />Furthermore, the majority of the land within the mine permit area has either been disturbed or <br />altered through agricultural activities, mining, or reclamation, resulting in limited applicability of <br />the upland sagebrush type reference area. In consideration of site characteristics, climatic <br />conditions, and the high level of agricultural activity of the surrounding area, the highest and best <br />use to reclaim to would be agricultural lands capable of sustaining a level of grazing without <br />`supplemental water while providing protection of the soil resource. In addition, portions of these <br />lands would respond favorably to irrigation. Thus, the postmining land use has been designated <br />as dryfand pasture or rangeland for livestock grazing and wildlife use. It is apparent that these <br />types of reclaimed lands can also benefit wildlife as evidenced by the observation of heavy <br />22-9 <br />