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highwall. On March 25, 1992, the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board <br />entered into a settlement agreement with American Shield regarding the <br />remaining highwall and the lack of a mine permit. This agreement required <br />American Shield to submit a complete application for a reclamation permit in <br />compliance with Rule 2.01.3 of CSCMRA and to obtain a reclamation only permit <br />for the Fruita Mine by December 31, 1992. <br />American Shield submitted an application for a permit to conduct reclamation <br />only on March 31, 1992. The Division considered the application complete on <br />April 9, 1992 and informed American Shield of adequacy concerns on June 8, 1992. <br />The Division received responses to those adequacy concerns on July 31, 1992. <br />Upon review of the submitted adequacy responses, the Division proposes to <br />approve this application for a reclamation only permit on September 30, 1992. <br />The Division received comments from the Division of Water Resources, Office of <br />the State Engineer, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Neither agency <br />had any objections to the proposed permit. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The Fruita Mine Complex is located in the Bookcliff area in northern Mesa <br />county, approximately 12 miles north of Fruita. The mine is situated roughly <br />one-third of the way up the escarpment with a southwesterly aspect. <br />The area is semi-arid and receives mean annual precipitation of 8.3 inches, <br />primarily as brief thunderstorms in the summer months. Frequent but light <br />snowfalls occur during the winter but these melt quickly due to abundant <br />sunshine. The topography is extremely steep, with the Bookcliffs rising <br />1,000 feet over a distance of 1,400 feet, exposing shale and sandstone <br />formations. The mine itself occurs within the Mesaverde Group, which consists <br />of interbedded shales, sandstones, silts tones, and coal. The Anchor and Cameo <br />coal seams were mined at this site. Coal mining has occurred in this area <br />historically as evidenced by six old workings present in the vicinity. These <br />old mines were primarily wagon mines known as Stove Canyon, Coai Gulch (or <br />Johnson), Farmers, Anchor No. 1, Anchor No. 2 (or Hicks), and the Buniger <br />Mine. Old maps of these mines indicate underground room and pillar methods <br />were employed for coal extraction. <br />The area surrounding the mine site is used as wildlife habitat with limited <br />grazing. Much of the land in the Grand Valley is used for agriculture. The <br />Fruita Mine Complex is far enough removed from these agricultural lands that <br />there should be no impact from the mine site. Surface waters from the mine <br />eventually drain to Big Salt Wash. <br />The mine site has been reclaimed with the proposed post-mining land use of <br />wildlife habitat with limited grazing in mind. The seed mix used during <br />reclamation utilized plant species native to Colorado. Crested wheatgrass <br />(Agropyron spicatum) was the sole exception. The mine site and surrounding <br />area are typified by pinon-juniper shrub land community. The seed mix is <br />compatible with the preexisting community. <br />Exploration and monitoring well holes drilled while the mine was in operation <br />failed to intercept any significant aquifers. Groundwater encountered at <br />these well sites was due to localized pockets. No springs, seeps, or <br />perennial streams exist on the permit area. The location of the permit area <br />-3- <br />