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with a small area classified as industrial due to an oil well site. Because of livestock <br />grazing, shrubs have increased in density while fortis and grasses have decreased. <br />Vegetation in the vicinity of the tie-across haul road is characterized by four vegetative <br />types: low sagebrush, meadow, cropland, and greasewood. Land use in this area is <br />non-irrigated cropland, industrial and rangeland. The non-irrigated cropland is used <br />primarily for winter wheat production. The designated industrial area classification is the <br />permitted Hayden Gulch Mine Loadout. <br />Fish and Wildlife <br />Numerous wildlife species inhabit the general area of the mine site and tie-across haul <br />road. The most predominant big game species are elk and mule deer. Pronghorn <br />antelope frequent the vicinity of the tie-across haul road. Common raptors are golden <br />eagle, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, marsh hawk and American kestrel. Use by <br />greater sand hill cranes occurs in the area of the tie-across haul road with an active <br />staging area for these birds located approximately 0.75 miles north of the road. <br />Cultural and Historic Resources <br />The applicant conducted a number of site-specific literature searches and archeological <br />surveys of the permit area between 1979 and 1990. During these cultural resource <br />inventories, 10 sites and 5 isolated finds were identified. Of these only 2 were <br />considered significant; one rock art site with adjacent fire-rock and one potential large <br />camp site. The camp site will not be disturbed, and appropriate mitigation measures <br />have been proposed for the rock art/fire-rock sites. <br />Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan <br />The Seneca II-W Mine is a surface mine operation. The mine is a dip-slope area strip <br />mine utilizing conventional dragline mining methods. The permit boundary of this <br />application encompasses two geographically sepazated areas; the mine area permit <br />boundary and the tie-across haul road permit boundary. The mine area permit boundary <br />includes two separate areas (north and south) and associated facilities. The north block <br />consists of the C and D Pits and the south block consists of the A and B Pits. Mine pits <br />are oriented perpendicular to the cropline and the coal in the mine pit area dips <br />approximately 18 to 25%. A single dragline will operate alternately within the north and <br />south areas. All four pits will mine the Wadge coal seam, from the cropline to <br />approximately 100 feet in depth. The operation plan is addressed in detail in Volume 7, <br />Tab l2. <br />The 5 year permit term for the Seneca II-W permit is effective December 31, 1995, and <br />allows for mining operations to be conducted for recovery of the Wadge seam in the SE <br />1/4 Section 10, SWl/4 Section 14, E1/2 Section 15, N1/2 Section 22 and the W]/2 <br />Section 23 Township SN Range 88W. There are currently no plans for recovery of the <br />deeper Wolf Creek seam in the permit area or the shallower Lennox seam. The permit <br />8 <br />