Laserfiche WebLink
Outcrop Complex, and Wahweap Fine Sandy Loam, 10 to 30% slope. These shallow rangeland soils <br />will be salvaged using a single lift procedure. <br />Vegetation, Wildlife and Land Use <br />Six general vegetation types are found on the New Horizon Mine 2 area: irrigated pasture, irrigated <br />hay land, irrigated cropland (small grains), Swale/drainage, sagebrush/grass, and various <br />miscellaneous types related to old farmsteads, abandoned orchards, and disturbed azeas. The New <br />Horizon 2 area is intensively used for agricultural. Irrigated agricultural land (pasture, hayland, and <br />cropland) comprises 491.84 acres, or 60.85 percent of the total 808.3-acre permit area. The <br />Swale/drainage vegetation type accounts for 72.64 acres, or 9.43 percent of the total proposed permit <br />area addition, while the upland azea sagebrush/grass type covers 92.5 acres, or 11.44 percent. Roads <br />and miscellaneous types account for the remainder of the land azea, 42.28 acres, or 5.85 percent. <br />The same basic vegetation types were identified in a 1999 study conducted within the PR-OS revision <br />azea, with certain modifications. As in previously approved portions of the New Horizon Mine 2 <br />area, irrigated agriculture supporting livestock pasture and hayland is the dominant land use. Other <br />land uses such as grazing of sagebrush habitats and wildlife use aze lazgely incidental to management <br />associated with the irrigated lands. Irrigated pastureland comprised 56% of the PR-OSPR-OS revision <br />acreage, and irrigated hayland comprised 16% of the acreage. Native sagebrush rangeland was <br />separated into two separate vegetation types, SG-1 that comprised 17% of the disturbance acreage, <br />and SG-2, which comprised 2% of the disturbance acreage. The SG-1 type occurs primarily on mesa <br />tops and shoulder slopes, where shrub vigor and form aze restricted by shallow depth to bedrock. <br />The SG-2 type occurs on mesa sides and toe slopes, and generally supports more vigorous, taller <br />sagebrush due to deeper soils. Both sagebrush types have been severely altered by past management, <br />with understory dominated by undesirable invasive plant species. The Swale/Drainage type occurs <br />on approximately 5% of the proposed disturbance acreage, and exists due to the presence of <br />subirrigation along swales resulting from imgation of adjacent pasture and haylands. <br />The azea surrounding the New Horizon Mine permit is used by a lazge variety of wildlife including <br />coyotes, fox, mule deer, elk (in the winter) and numerous bird species. <br />Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan <br />New Horizon Mine 1 <br />The presently pemutted New Horizon Mine 1 encompasses 98.62 acres in the final two yeazs of the <br />bonding cycle. <br />New Horizon Mine 2 <br />In February 1993, Western Fuels of Colorado commenced surface mining at the Mine 2 azea. The <br />annual production is approximately 400,000 tons per year. At this time, active mining and <br />reclamation activities aze concurrent. Topsoil salvaging depths and plans aze detailed in section <br />2.04.9 of the permit application. Actual topsoil recovery has been less than originally projected due <br />tl <br />