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Description of the Environment <br />The 610 acre Red Canyon Mines permit area lies on the lower south facing slope <br />of the Grand Mesa, which is on the southern flank of the Plceance Creek <br />Basin. Grand Mesa lies north of the mines and rises over 4,000 feet above the <br />elevation of the portal area in less than 4 1/2 miles. The combination of <br />rising topography and dipping coal beds results in rapidly increasing <br />overburden thickness to the north. <br />The mine elevation is approximately 6,400 feet. The climate is semi-arid with <br />an annual precipitation of 12-14 inches. Predominately south and west <br />exposures in the surface disturbance area combined with the low precipitation <br />have resulted in poorly developed soils and sparse vegetation in the portal <br />area. <br />The permit area is within the watershed of Tongue Creek which is tributary to <br />the Gunnison River. Ward Creek, a perennial stream, and Williams Creek, an <br />intermittent stream are the major drainages on the permit area. A number of <br />irrigation ditches supply water to orchards and pastureland in the Williams <br />and Ward Creek Valleys on and adjacent to the permit area. <br />Alluvial valley floors, currently supporting irrigated agriculture, have been <br />identified in the permit and adjacent area. <br />The two coal seams to be mined occur near the base of the Upper Cretaceous <br />Mesa Verde Formation and regionally dip 3 to 5 degrees to the northeast into <br />the basin. The coals occur within a 300 to 350 foot section of non-marine <br />siltstone, claystone and channel sandstone deposits above the Rollins <br />Sandstone. <br />A surficial "glacial-alluvial" deposit mantles a major portion of the permit <br />area. The deposit is fully saturated in most areas and is a regionally <br />significant aquifer. The only other aquifer of significant regional extent in <br />the permit or adjacent area is the Rollins Sandstone, which is approximately <br />150 feet stratigraphically below the proposed "D" seam workings. The proposed <br />"D" seam workings will be 130 feet stratigraphically below the existing "E" <br />seam workings. <br />The 41 acre surface disturbance area, which includes the existing "E" seam and <br />proposed "D" seam portals and yard area is located at the head of a shallow <br />box canyon. The soil type at the site is a Beenom-Absarokee Association which <br />varies in depth from 5" along the side slopes to 12" along the drainage <br />bottom. Deeper, more productive soils have developed along the major streams <br />and in the "glacial alluvial" deposits in the more level uplands to the north <br />and west of the surface disturbance area. Soils at the site have been <br />severely disturbed by previous underground and surface mining activity. <br />The primary vegetation type in the permit and adjacent area is pinyon-juniper <br />woodland, with limited sagebrush and greasewood communities occupying deeper <br />soils along drainages and toe slopes. <br />-~- <br />