GENERAL55787

• Permit No: M1999002
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 8/18/1998
• Doc Name: COMMERCIAL MINE PLAN SUBMITTED TO BLM SECTION 8
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

not commence until the end of that 5-year mining interval. Topsoil will be
• stockpiled to facilitate successful site reclamation, and all disturbed sites will be
stabilized using suitable techniques to prevent erosion until perennial vegetation
has become established and reclamation is complete. Annual or noxious weeds on
all disturbed areas will be controlled as directed by and in a manner approved by the
BLM. Disturbed areas will be reseeded with a seed mixture approved by the BLM.
Seed mixtures will normally be based on one of eight standard seed mixtures
specified by the BLM White River Resource Area (see Attachment 6-1, Table C-1.
Standard Seed Mixes) (BLM 1996a). Where possible, native seed mixes most suitable
to a specific range site will be substituted for revegetating disturbed areas {see
Attachment 6-1, Table A-2 [sic]. Native Seed Mixes) (BLM 1996a). American Soda
will consult with the BLM on the best methods for ensuring successful revegetation
of disturbed areas.
The areas selected for initial well field development over the first 30 years of the
project are located on ridgetops, which will make them the simplest areas to
develop and reclaim. These ridgetops are predominantly occupied by pinyon-
juniper woodlands and the chained pinyon-juniper community. Development of
the solution mining well field will also involve more limited occurrences of
sagebrush communities on the north-facing slopes of the upper reaches of the dry,
ephemera] drainages to Piceance Creek and barren/rock outcrop communities on
the south-facing slopes of the same drainages (see Figure 7-17 and Figure 2-1).
• As mentioned above, the pinyon-juniper and sagebrush communities are the most
common at the site and are, in fact, universally dominant in the entire region.
Therefore, their absence, even if it were to persist throughout many years, would
not be a significant impact on a regional scale. However, these communities do
provide important local wintering habitat for mule deer, and the impact of the
temporary loss of these communities with respect to this function is addressed in
Section 8.6.1.
In the long term, these habitats will be recreated through recolonization of
reclaimed areas by native vegetation and by natural successional processes. Pinyon-
juniper woodlands at the Piceance Site that were chained in 1965 have since been
recolonized, and the growth of native vegetation is nearly indistinguishable from
that of unchained areas. The relatively narrow, linear shape of the 5-year mining
panels and their alternation with undeveloped strips of native vegetation provide
an essentially ideal configuration for natural recolonization by native grasses,
shrubs, and trees into areas that have been successfully stabilized and revegetated
with either native or non-native seed mixtures. As discussed in Section 8.1.2, with
the reestablishment of effective plant-soil relationships following successful
revegetation efforts, nutrient cycling and soil development will be restored, which,
with time, will create conditions under which native species will prosper. The
undeveloped strips between the mining panels will provide an ample supply of
• seeds of the major components of the pinyon-juniper and sagebrush communities.
Furthermore, undeveloped "islands" within the mining panels will serve as even
American Soda, L.L.P. 8-16
Commeraal Mine Plan
August 18, 1998