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West Elk Mine <br />Description Possible Subsidence Consequences- 2.05.6(6l(bl(il <br />Pre- and Post-mining Land Uses -2.05. b (b) (b) (i) (A) <br />According to the Environmental Analysis U-94-37 prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Land <br />Management (BLM) in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S. Office of <br />Surface Mining (OSM) dated November 1994, the permit area lands support wildlife use, <br />dispersed recreation, and livestock grazing. <br />The Forest Service Amended Land Resource Managemera Plan prescribed designation of the Box <br />Canyon lease tract and surrounding USFS lands is "6B," which emphasizes livestock grazing and <br />may provide recreational opportunities for semi-primitive non-motorized, semi-primitive <br />motorized and roaded natural settings. The area is generally open to off-road motorized use, as <br />identified on the "Gunnison Area Basin" National Forest trap. <br />It is anticipated that little or no impacts to the wildlife and domestic livestock and their <br />respective habitat will occur as a consequence of mining-induced subsidence on the permit <br />azea. In the unlikely event that subsidence effects disturb the wildlife and domestic livestock, <br />reclamation of the site will be to those land uses which existed prior to mining. <br />Effects of Mining ors Surf~cial Geologic Features <br />When evaluating the effects of mining in the permit area, the present land use, the post-mining <br />land use and the effects of grevious mining in the area should be considered. Present land uses <br />primarily include wildlife habitat, recreational hunting, and livestock grazing. Post-mining land <br />use will be the same: wildlife habitat, recreational hunting, and livestock grazing. <br />Evaluation of the effects of past and current longwall tnining on surface features indicates that <br />surface cracks and visible surface effects are rare and have been documented in only five <br />locations: <br />1. Numerous cracks occurred in the meadow above and south of the West Elk Mine surface <br />facilities. Some question exists as to whether these represented subsidence cracks or <br />resulted from slight movement of the large landslide complex. Even if they were <br />subsidence cracks, the cracks resulted from room-and-pillar mining, not longwall <br />mining, as the cracks occurred above the F-Seam room-and-pillar azeas shortly after Utey <br />were mined, and north of the area of influence of longwall mining. <br />~~ <br />2.~5-1 ~2 RevisedJ,m. 1995 PR06; 7/96 RN03: RevisedMay 1999 TR84; RevisedJm,. 1998 PR08 <br />