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West Elk Mine <br />• Mountains -approximately 10,000 feet); to the southeast (Mount Gunnison - 12,719 feet and the <br />West Elk Mountains -approximately 10,000 to 13,000 feet); and to the west (Jumbo Mountain - <br />approximately 8,200 feet). The West Flatiron (approximately 8500 feet) is the major topographic <br />expression in the center of the Box Canyon lease tract. <br />Pre-mining Environmental Resources/Condition. Capability and Productivity <br />Lands within the Wes[ Elk Mine permit azea aze owned and/or managed by the Bureau of Land <br />Management (BLM), U.S. Department of Interior; the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of <br />Agriculture; Mountain Coal Company, and the private landowners identified in Exhibit 3. Public <br />lands managed by the BLM fall within the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area. Forest Service <br />managed public lands aze located within the Gunnison National Forest. Use of private lands in <br />unincorporated Gunnison County is regulated by Gunnison County. Each of these federal agencies <br />manages their lands according to resource management plans (RMP) prepared under the Federal <br />Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Information regarding the existing pre-mining <br />environmental and land uses on these public lands is derived from the resource management plans <br />prepared for the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area and the Gunnison National Forest. Information <br />on the pre-mining land uses on private lands is derived from information provided by landowners <br />or long-time residents of the area. Map 67 depicts the pre-mining surface land uses of the permit <br />and adjacent areas. <br />Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area <br />• Within the West Elk Mine permit azea, the BLM manages approximately 144 acres of public land <br />located in Section 11, T13S, R90W. These lands fall within Management Unit 7 which accounts <br />for four (4) percent of the total land area of the Uncompahgre Basin Planning Area. The existing <br />pre-mining environmental resources identified as important by the BLM in this azea are coal and <br />wildlife habitat (BLM, 1989). The relatively small size of the area within this tract and its <br />proximity to existing transportation facilities (Colorado Highway 133, railroad), the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison River, and exiting mines limit the number and variety of land uses for the tract. BLM <br />has not developed or provided a discussion of the capability of the land to support a variety of uses, <br />recognizing that livestock grazing and mining have been the pre-eminent historical uses of the azea <br />since European settlement of the North Fork valley. Productivity of the land has not been <br />quantified by BLM since the primary use is mining. Wildlife habitat is minimal in this area of the <br />management unit, and there is no crucial deer and elk winter range in this location. <br />BLM has specified the management of this azea in the RMP (BLM, 1989). "The management unit <br />will be managed for both existing and potential coal development. Development of existing coal <br />leases will continue, and unleased federal coal will be identified as acceptable for further coal <br />leasing consideration with aminimum ofmultiple-use restrictions. Activities and land uses that are <br />consistent with maintaining existing coal operations and the potential for coal development will be <br />permitted." <br />Other acceptable land uses in this management unit aze oil and gas leasing and development, <br />• forestry, utility condors, and off-road vehicle use. <br />2.04-2 RevisedJart. 1994 PROS, Revised Jun. 1995 PR06 <br />