Laserfiche WebLink
management, and overuse. Swale, bog, or riparian areas have developed in some areas as a <br />result of irrigation water runoff (irrigation tailwater). Additionally, ground water recharged from <br />irrigation, discharges at a number of downslope areas as seeps and bogs. The remaining <br />sagebrush dominated native rangeland areas generally have been included in pastures that <br />have had intensive livestock use. This has resulted in an overstory of woody species and an <br />understory of undesirable annual and perennial weedy species. The original pinyon-juniper <br />overstory in these areas has essentially been removed. With the continued availability of <br />adequate irrigation water, irrigated hayland, pasture, and cropland, as well as the incidental <br />plant communities resulting from abundant water supplies, will continue to dominate the <br />landscape around Nucla. <br />Methods <br />The presence of specific vegetation types and communities resulting from intensive agricultural <br />land use and irrigation dictated unique approaches to vegetation baseline sampling within the <br />study area at the proposed New Horizon 2 Mine. Surface mining operations normally occur on <br />native rangelands in the Western U.S., and only rarely involve agricultural lands. General <br />• discussions on sampling methodologies and intensities, as well as vegetation type <br />delineations, were carried out with representatives of the Office of Mined Land Reclamation <br />(OMLR) beginning in February 1987. A letter to the OMLR on June 15, 1987 detailed Peabody <br />Coal Company's (Peabody) proposed sampling program for the New Horizon 2 study area. <br />Included in the letter were approximate acreages for the various vegetation or agriculture types <br />and accompanying detailed descriptions of the types and the natural and manmade conditions <br />controlling their expression on the landscape. Sampling parameters and intensity were also <br />proposed in the letter. The OMLR response to this proposal was received on August 11, 1987 <br />and specified concurrence for the sampling techniques proposed for the Irrigated Hayland <br />Type, Irrigated Cropland Type, and the Farmstead, Facilities, Orchards, etc. Questions were <br />raised as to why all parameters (i.e., production, cover, woody plant density) were not sampled <br />for the Irrigated Pasture Type, as well as concern for a lack of adequate sampling intensity in <br />the Swale/Drainage and Rangelands Types. On August 20, 1987 Peabody responded to the <br />OMLR's comments and concerns and provided clarification on several items. Peabody agreed <br />to increase sampling intensity in the Swale/Drainage Type and provided a discussion <br />supporting justification for using ocular cover estimates versus point-intercept cover <br />(REVISED 9/99) 2.04.10 - 8 <br />