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<br />types; the low grassland and riparian communities along the Purgatoire River valley <br />bottom, and forest communities dominating the slopes and upland areas along the river <br />valley. Communities on the north-facing slope and the river valley were inventoried and <br />found to contain four distinct vegetative communities at the New Elk Mine area; a <br />Ponderosa Pine-Douglas fir oak community, a Ponderosa pine-oak community, a grassland <br />community, and a riparian willow carr community. The Ponderosa pine-Douglas fir-oak <br />community is found on the north-facing slope above the mine facilities at elevations above <br />7,600 feet. The overstory consists of mature Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir with <br />interspersed pinon pine and Rocky Mountain juniper. The dominant shrub species is <br />Gambel's oak. Cover is relatively sparse 112 percent) and productivity is low 162 Ib./acl. <br />The Ponderosa pine-oak community occurs on the north facing slopes above 7,500 feet <br />on the eastern two-thirds of the permit area. Pure Ponderosa pine stands are interspersed <br />with Gambel's oak, pinon pine, and Rocky Mountain juniper. Vegetative cover is low (4 <br />percentl, as is productivity (44 Ib./ac). The grassland community was inventoried at the <br />adjacent Golden Eagle Mine on a plateau above the river at 7,200 feet elevation, since no <br />undisturbed grassland communities could be found at the New Elk Mine. Dominant grass <br />species were blue grams and western wheatgrass, with many other minor graminoids <br />including a number of fortis. Sage and snakeweed were the dominant shrubs. Vegetative <br />cover can be characterized as moderate (18 percentl, as is productivity (560 Ib./acl. The <br />willow carr riparian community is located in the Purgatoire River drainage at an elevation <br />of 7,400 feet at the New Elk Mine. The dominant species was willow with a diverse <br />graminoid and forb understory. Vegetative cover is high 143 percent), as is productivity <br />(2,140 Ib./ac1. <br />Soils in the area range from very shallow on the steep side slopes to deep, well-drained <br />loams with adark-colored surface layer found in the valley bottom along the Purgatoire <br />River. <br />Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br />Of the 3,585 acres originally permitted at the New Elk Mine, 155 acres were already <br />disturbed for working areas and facilities. Permit Revision #1 added 120 acres to the <br />permit area, of which 36 acres were affected by new, proposed surface facilities. The <br />resulting permit area encompassed 3,705 acres with 191 acres of surface disturbance. <br />No disturbed acreage has been released from bond as of February 1999. However, a <br />large area south of Highway 12 was released of further liability as per Division written <br />policy for release of areas overlying underground workings. Included in this area are two <br />small areas of surface disturbance, the Apache Canyon ventilation shafts, which were <br />transferred to the Golden Eagle mine permit, t1C-81-013. The resulting permit area totals <br />about 900 acres. <br />The existing operation at the time of original permitting consisted of several benches used <br />for storage, office and shop buildings, railroad tracks, 2 portals, conveyors and coal silos, <br />substations, fans and air shafts, a water tank, a parking lot, four sediment ponds and <br />associated ditches and culverts, roads, and a refuse disposal area. Surface facilities <br />added as a result of permitting actions included a new refuse disposal pile and sediment <br />7 <br />