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Two broadly classified soil complexes exist within the permit azea. These aze Typic Paleoborolls <br />- Borollic Camborthids and Argic Cryoborolls- Cryic Paleoborolls. However, prior to mining, the <br />Typic Paleoborolls -Borollic Camborthids soils covered the disturbed area. They occur primarily <br />on uplands and are formed in materials weathered in place from soft shale. These clayey soils aze <br />moderately deep to deep, well drained and usually contain less than 35 percent rock fragments. <br />Permeability is slow, shrink-swell potential is high and potential frost action is moderate to high. <br />These soils aze used for rangeland, non-irrigated cropland, and irrigated hay and pastureland. <br />Vegetation in the vicinity of the mine is characterized by four major communities: grassland, <br />mountain shrub, big sagebrush, and cropland; and by two sub-types: aspen and mountain <br />shrub-rock outcrop. Within the Foidel Creek Mine disturbed azea, the prominent vegetation types <br />prior to disturbance were big sagebrush and cropland (dryland small grains). <br />Numerous wildlife species inhabit the general area. The most predominant are elk, mule deer and <br />Columbian Sharptail grouse. Other wildlife species include: black bear, cougaz, rabbit, coyote, <br />bobcat, red fox, rodents, bats, skunks, waterfowl, amphibians and reptiles. Two golden eagle <br />nests are located on sandstone cliffs adjacent to the disturbed azea within the permit boundary. <br />There is critical winter habitat for elk, an elk migration con•idor and elk calving grounds and <br />critical sage grouse habitat within and adjacent to the permit area. Sage grouse critical habitat is <br />located outside of the disturbed area. <br />Cultural and historic resources within the permit area include three historic sites and one <br />prehistoric or protohistoric site. Two of the historic sites aze undistinguished homesteads with no <br />important architectural features and which are not associated with persons important in history. <br />The other historic site, the Foidel Canyon Schoolhouse, is listed in the National Register of <br />Historic Places, and is located in the general area of the main facilities along Foidel Creek. It will <br />not be undermined or subsided and is protected appropriately. The prehistoric site (SRT345) is a <br />rock art site located on the outcrop of the Twentymile Sandstone directly north of the main mine <br />facility area. Mining approved under PR-02 (Southwest Mining District) undermined and <br />subsided SRT345. Stipulation No. 33 was attached to the PR-02 approval and Twentymile Coal <br />Company took appropriate measures, as determined by the United States Bureau of Land <br />Management (BLM), prior to undermining this site. Mitigation measures required by the BLM <br />involved extensive research and documentation of this site. The site has since been destroyed by <br />subsidence and subsequent rockfall. <br />Pre-mining and post-mining land uses within the permit azea are pastureland and rangeland. <br />Some of the surface was previously disturbed by surface mining methods under Energy Mine No. <br />1, Energy Mine No. 2, Eckman Park Mine (C-81-071), and Energy Mine No. 3 (C-84-062). <br />Descr~tion of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br />The Foidel Creek Mine was originally permitted as an underground operation employing room <br />and pillaz mining on privately owned coal within a 924 acre permit azea. TCC referred to the <br />original permit as a pilot project designed to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of <br />underground mining operations on the Wadge coal seam, which was previously surface mined in <br />