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Veoetation-Rule 2.09.10 Information regarding vegetation can be found in Section 2.04.10 of the permit application. Studies of the vegetation in the vicinity of the Red Canyon Mine began in 1979 and were completed during 1981. The primary vegetation type in the permit and adjacent area is pinon-juniper woodland, with limited sagebrush and greasewood communities occupying deeper soils along drainages and toe slopes. Fish and Wildlife-Rule 2.04-11 Information regarding fish and wildlife can be found in Sections 2.04.10(3) and 2.04.11. In a report by the Division of Wildlife, it was found that the area encompassing the Red Canyon Mine had been disturbed by prior mining activity and, as a result, the area does not provide very good wildlife habitat. Mule deer and elk winter in the adjacent area surrounding the mine and are found near the mine site. Coyote, bobcat, fox, cottontail rabbits, mourning dove, jack rabbits, raptors, and many other species of small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and non-game birds inhabit the area. The Division of Wildlife (DOW) is primarily concerned with the possible impact on critical deer winter range in this area. DOW recommended speed limit zones and deer crossing signs while the mine was in operation. Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans The Red Canyon Permit Renewal of 1988 indicated that mining operations ceased in 1984 and that future permits would be required only to reclaim the site. Consequently, this findings and permit document is being issued approving only reclamation and not continuation of mining. The portals were sealed in 1986 and the majority of reclamation was completed in 1988. A description of the previous operation plan and the proposed reclamation plan follows. The Red Canyon Mine plan called for mining of two coal seams (the D and the E) which occur near the base of the Upper Cretaceous Mesaverde Formation, a 300-350 foot section of non-marine siltstone, claystone, and channel sandstone deposits above the Rollins Sandstone. Only a portion of the E seam was mined; it averaged six (6) feet in thickness and dipped 3-5 degrees to the northeast. Overburden thickness ranges from less than 100 feet near the portals to approximately 1000 feet at the northern permit boundary. The permitted area is approximately 610 acres; all privately owned surface. The E coal seam, which was the seam mined via the Red Canyon No. 1 portals, is 100 percent private coal, while approximately 4 percent of the D seam coal planned to be mined via the No. 2 portals was from Federal Lease D-036906. The D seam portals were never opened. The leased federal coal is located in the SW 1/4 SW 1/4 of Section 12, T13S, R95W. 7