Laserfiche WebLink
• established early after the establishment of Nucla, were used principally for cash crop with a large <br />portion of the production going to the mining districts around Telluride. By the 1940s, the market <br />demand was gone and the orchards were abandoned (James Johnson, personal communication, May <br />1987). These orchards are no longer managed and only local incidental use is made of them now. <br />Some of these orchards may, at least seasonally, be grazed along with adjacent irrigated pasture. <br />Property ownership and vegetation and production information for the permit area can be found in <br />Section 2.03, (Legal, Financial, Compliance and Related Information) and Section 2.04.10 (Vegetation <br />Information), respectively. <br />Because of the proximity of the site to the town of Nucla, a small amount of residential use (outside <br />of the farmsteads) has occurred in the northeast and southeast portions of the permit area. Five <br />homesites occur in these areas and range from mobile homes to traditional permanently located <br />homes. Though residential would be one of the highest and best uses of the land, the present status <br />of the local economy most probably precludes any additional residential expansion in the area. <br />There has been limited underground mining activitywithin the permitarea. In additiontothe reclaimed <br />New Horizon 1 surface coal mine northwest of the mine area, three underground coal mines adjacent <br />to the permit area were operated by local individuals in the past. The abandoned Independence or <br />Oberding Mine is located about 1,300 feet north of the study area in the NE'/<SW'/., Section 31 (T47N <br />R15W). This mine covers approximately 15 acres underground and operated during the 1920's and <br />• 1930's, though there is evidence that some activity occurred as late as the early 1960's. The <br />abandoned Nix Mine is located in the NE'/aSEY,, Section 36 (T47N R16W). This mine operated until <br />about 1926 and covers about seven acres of underground workings. The Tuttle Mine (NW'/, SW'/, <br />Section 31 (T47N R15W) was marked by a waste dump and some discarded mine rail. Period of <br />operation and extent of mining in unknown, but both are presumed to be minor. All three operations <br />mined the lower Dakota seams and appear to have been involved only in local coal sales. <br />The land use within the permit areas predominantly agriculture using irrigation. Areas ofnon-irrigated <br />sagebrush rangeland occur as scattered remnants and are used for livestock grazing. Irrigation has <br />allowed for a higher and better land use to be attained than if natural precipitation was relied on for <br />agricultural use. With the latter, only grazing of rangeland by livestock (at low stocking rates) and <br />occasional use of wood products from the pinyon-juniper stands would be attainable. <br />For further background information on land use, the reviewer is directed to Section 2.03 (Legal, <br />Financial, Compliance and Related Information); Section 2.04.4 (Cultural and Historic Resources <br />Information); Section 2.04.9 (Soils Resource Information); Section 2.04.10 (Vegetation Information); <br />and Section 2.04.11 (Fish and Wildlife Resources Information). <br />• (REVISED26 Aug 2002) 2.04.3-7 <br />