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CHAPTERFOUR Environmental Consenuences into loose particles. Soil structural aggregates would also be broken down by compaction from vehiculaz traffic. Results of these impacts would include increased difficulty or failure in achieving successful reclamation. Subsequently, the success or failure of revegetation would ' affect other resources including vegetation, surface water, wildlife, visual resources, and livestock grazing. Disturbance of fragile soils, those most vulnerable to erosion and loss of soil productivity, is the focus of this analysis, and impacts to fragile soils would be considered the most significant. However, the severity of the impacts would depend on the number of acres disturbed and the ' duration of the disturbance. Table 4.2-1 shows the number of acres of fragile soils that would be disturbed for each of the three project components for the life of the project, short-term construction activities, and mining operations. Impacts would be moderated with the implementation of interim and final erosion control measures and reclamation procedures. A Soil Conservation, Erosion and Sediment Control, Reclamation, and Revegetation Plan (The Plan) prepared for the Yankee Gulch Project describes measures American Soda would take to ' minimize impacts associated with project development and procedures to reclaim disturbed azeas (Water and Earth Technologies, Inc. and Habitat Management, Inc. 1998). The Plan is currently being reviewed by the BLM and will have to comply with BLM requirements prior to approval. The Plan, which is too lengthy to include in this EIS, is incompliance with BLM's Resource Management Plan (RMP) (1997), which requires that proposed surface-disturbing activities be designed to minimize soil loss and impairment of soil productivity. It is available for review at the BLM office in Meeker. The Plan, briefly summarized in Section 2,2.7, also includes the following measures specific to soils and reclamation. (Refer also to Appendix A for a summary ' of the Plan.) • Minimize soil disturbance and retain a mosaic of vegetative cover on more than 50 percent of the mining panels. ' • Use standazd best management practices on all construction sites including construction of interim and final erosion and sediment control structures, and implement routine inspection and maintenance procedures. • Construct roads to BLM specifications, which includes placement of culverts, drainage ' ditches and other drainage structures to control surface water flows. • Salvage suitable soil materials for use in reclamation. ' • Perform interim reclamation to stabilize disturbed azeas within the mine panels not needed for subsequent development. • Begin final reclamation of each mining panel as soon as mining activities in the panel aze concluded. • Contour reclaimed azeas to blend with the surrounding landscape. Reseed all disturbed azeas with BLM-approved seed mixes to meet post-mining land use objectives. ' • Prepaze the seedbed, use appropriate seeding methods, apply mulch, fertilizers or soil amendments, as appropriate, for site specific conditions. ' Soils 4-5