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r ~ . 3.B LAND USE 3.B.1 Affected Environment The project area lies within the Deep Creek Unit of the Dry Fork cattle allotment. This allotment is managed under an intensive time-controlled rotation grazing system that includes several other BLM and private allotments. Under this system, up to 573 cow/calf pairs acrd 4fi yeazlings graze from 2 [0 30 days, in four different areas. Grazing use in the unit varies annually, and is planned for October in 2001. Numerous stock ponds and allotment fences are present in the project area. A stock trail runs the length of Long Draw. Other land uses in the project area include dispersed recreation (primarily ATV riding and hunting, with some snowmobiling), occasional mountain bikers also visit the area, and the area is open to persona] fuelwood gathering. The majority of use in the project area is during [he general rifle hutrting seasons. From a recreation standpoint, the area would be considered semi-primitive motorized on the Recreation Opportunity Spectncm. The project area lies in the West Elk inventoried roadless area (IRA). The West Elk IRA was alralyzed in the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation II (RARE II) in 1979, but only a portion of it was carried forward for wildemess designation (122,000 acres which at e now part of the West Elk Wilderness). The remaining portion (87,000 acres) was not given wilderness recommendation or identified as a "further planning azea". The GMUG Forest Plan did not carry [he "non-wilderness recommended" portion of the IRA forward for management as a roadless area. In the area where this project is located, it was designated for primary management focus on livestock grazing (see Chapter 3, Introduction). The Forest Plan did not restrict road building in the "non-wilderness designated" portion of the West Elk IRA. The 1993 Oil and Gas EIS for the GMUG discusses drat the "non-wildemess designated" portion of the West F:Ik IRA was split into 6 segments. The segments include either side of Kehler Pass, Snowshoe Mesa, Coal Creek Mesa, north of Mortnt Lamborn, atnd southwest of Landsend Peak. The Mount Lambom, Landsend Peak area, and an area adjacent to the West Elk wildemess off Kehler pass are managed for semi-primitive non- motorized recreation (management area 3A from the Forest Platr), and were identified as remnants most manageable for roadlessness. The EIS also identified that the remaining area is broken into small segments by roads. The Coal Creek Mesa portion was further split into the areas west of Coal Creek, and east of Co;rl creek. This (iVB project azea lies in the west part of the Coal Creek segment. which is estimated to contain about 20,000 acres. The Oil and Gas EIS identified that the "west half of the Coal Mesa area is leased for coal and is underlain by active mining. The east[ern] half of this [west] area is in an active coal exploration permit. Dozens of explanatory holes have been drilled. [F]DR 711 and it's spurs are open, within the area. These factors combine to dismpt the natural integrity of the Coal Mesa area. [T]he Coal 20