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-(. ,, ~ ~~ !~ ~J-,~ r. _v i ~. 2. Description of the Environment (cont'd) -~~~ The Mount Garfield Formation of the Mesa Verde Group of Upper Cretaceous Age contains the Cameo coal seam which .will be mined by the operation. The Mount Garfield Formation consists of fine grained and medium grained sandstones and gray shales. The Sego Sandstone underlies the Mount Garfield Formation while the Hunter Formation is the overlying strata. Included within the Xunter Formation are the massive cliff-forming sandstones which outcrop along the canyon walls of East Salt Creek. No major bedrock aquifers of regional extent have been identified in the permit and adjacent area by the applicant. Drilling has indicated that the Cameo coal seam becomes increasingly saturated down dip from its outcrop in McClane Canyon. The coal seam subcrops in the East Salt Creek alluvium several miles from the mine which is identified as the recharge area for the saturated zone. Some local lenticular strata of limited extent have been identified above the Cameo seam which contain perched ground water. Alluvial ground water exists within the East Salt Creek alluvium. The East Salt Creek Valley contains an intermittent stream channel. McClane Canyon contains an ephemeral channel which is tributary to East Salt Creek. The proposed permit area for the McClane Canyon mine is almost entirely within the McClane Canyon drainage basin. The climate in the region is semiarid. Prevailing winds at or near ground level at the mine are dictated by the orientation of the deeply incised McClane Canyon. The annual average precipitation recorded at Fruita (22 miles southeast of McClane Canyon) is 8.8 inches. The soils mapped in the permit area are well to excessively drained and have formed in alluvial or colluvial sediments. Soils are deepest in the valley bottoms and become shallower along the canyon sideslopes where they inter- sperse with bare rock. A11 of the soils are rated good to fair as sources of topsoil for reclamation. Limitations exists, however, for subsoils in the alluvium which demonstrate strongly alkaline pX values. The mine occurs within the lower montane climax region. Three vegetation types occur within and adjacent to the permit area. A greasewood shrubland type occupies the flat terrian along the East Salt Creek drainage where soils are deep, well-drained and often very sodic and moderately saline. Shadshale scrubland borders the greasewood shrubland along the dry, steep, south facing slopes in the shallower soils which are interspersed with rock outcrops. Finally, Juniper Woodland is found along the ridge tops and steep north and west facing slopes of shallow soils and rock outcrops. These vegetation types are comann to western Colorado and Utah. 3. Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan Most of the 7.7 acres to be disturbed by the surface facilities have already been disturbed. The existing operation consists of the bench, portal and face up developments and mine support trailers. A coal surge pile also exists