PERMFILE137983

• Permit No: C1982057A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/5/2005
• Section_Exhibit Name: Tab 04 Premining Land Use
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

rangeland for about 3.5 miles on the southern end and irrigated (hay) and non-irrigated (wheat) cropland •
for the remaining 2.75 miles to the inactive Hayden Gulch Terminal, Inc. coal loading facility.
From the Hayden Gulch Terminal, Inc. coal loading facility, the Tie-Across Haul Road traverses an area
that includes both cropland and rangeland, as shown on Exhibit 4-1. While passing through basically a
cropland area, portions of the proposed haul road routing follow areas of rangeland that range from
relatively flat to moderately sloping Isee Photo 2, Appendix 4-11.
Mine Permit Area.
Pre-mine Land Uses. The pre-mine land uses within the Seneca II-W Mine Permit Area are shown on
Exhibit 4-1. Rangeland was the dominant land use within the permit area Isee Photo 3, Appendix 4-11.
Other categories found within the boundaries include wildlife habitat, industrial and water resources.
The mine permit area shown on Exhibit 4-1 covers approximately 4,093 acres. Nearly all of the acreage
for the permit area was used as rangeland for livestock and wildlife.
While some competition exists between wildlife and livestock for forages, this competition is limited due
to different seasons of intensive use. According to ERT, only mule deer have been observed on the
Mine Permit Area during the summer months. More elk than deer were observed on this site during •
winter months, but none were observed during the summer censuses when domestic livestock make the
heaviest use of the area. Additionally, winter big game census flights conducted since 1985 indicate
that both the permit area and expansion areas are not heavily used by big game. See Tab 11, Wildlife,
Tor the results of the big game aerial census flights.
About three acres of land were classified as industrial. This parcel of land has been graded and contains
an oil well in operation as of November 2004. There is no other industrial use within the permit area as
of November 2004.
Three small stock watering ponds categorized as water resources were located within the Mine Permit
Area. These ponds were constructed by building an earthen dam across
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TR-50 12 Revised '11/04