2008-03-14_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981008

• Permit No: C1981008
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Date: 3/14/2008
• Doc Name: Prime Farmland Letter
• From: DRMS
• To: Western Fuels-Colorado
• Permit Index Doc Type: General Correspondence
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

United Statss Department of Agriculture
o N RCS
N2Atual Resources Conservation Service
102 Par Place
Montrose, CO 81401
9T0-249-8407-OFFICE
david.dearst}[e-mail]~da.gov
Feb. 11, 2008
At the ;request of Jim Boyd, District Conservationist out of Norwood Colorado, I would ldce to
address the following topics; 1) Definition of Prime Farmland. 2) Levels of Soil Swvey 3)
Similar Soils. These topics are related to a project that would involve reclamation of poss>tble
Prime Farmland after a mining operation.
1) The attached document defines Prime Farmland and gives the criteria for designation. In the
report "Order One 5oi15urvey" for New Horizon Mine, March 1998 by Intermountain Resource
Inventory Inc, James Irvine author, there is a statement on page 14 that was quoted from the
document "Colorado Important Farmland Inventory" that I would like to address. In the
Colorado Important Farmland Inventory document, it states that prime farmland designation in
Colorado would not be given to any soil with a pH of over 7.4(see page 3 item 4 of this
document). This statement, in the same document, does not agree with the statement on page 2
item 3 for the national requirements for prime farmland. If the criteria of pH 7.4 were applied,
then it would eliminate over 90 percent of the soils currently designated prime farmland on the
west slope of Colorado. According to the statement from the National Soil Survey Handbook
developed for Soil Survey and the Natwal Resowce Conservation Service, the designation of
Prime Farmland is a tool developed by NRCS (NSSH 657.1) for the purpose of "the nation needs
to know; the extent and location of the best land for producing food, feed, fiber..." If one
examines the soil. survey that contains the soils information for the area in question, map unit
Bari fine sandy loam, 1 to 3 percent slopes is designated as prime farmland in the accompanying
table (see attached).
In order to discover in depth the apparent discrepancy in the document "Colorado Important
Farmland Inventory", I contacted the M06 regional Soil Survey Office in Lakewood Colorado
who has oversight of this soil survey. I was informed in my conversation with the staff located
there of'two thinF;s concerning this statement and document. First, the statement on page 3, item
4 was iri error and should read 8.4. Secondly, the document in question (Colorado Important
Farmland Inventory was put together sometime around 1980 and is now rendered obsolete. That
any and~all determinations for Prime Farmland would tie directly back solely to the national
criteria. ,
2) Levels of Soil Survey were developed to best meet the needs for soils information of the
present and foreseeable futwe needs for resource management. Soil swveys in Colorado have,
to my knowledge;, been conducted using two levels of soil survey (level 2 and level 3). Levels of
soil survey are df;termined by use and can be found in the Soil Survey Manual (Agricultural
Handbook I8 (USDA)) on pages 47-56. In this book it lists the 2nd order of Soil Survey for
"agricultural" and the 3'~ order for "range". It also states on pages 55-56 that there may be two
orders of soil survey mapping within a swvey area. On page 48 it states that let order survey is
for "very intensive (i.e. experimental plots, individual building sites)". Keep this statement in
mind as ewe discuss similar soils. Based upon Soil Survey Manuel directives and information
that the area under consideration was in agriculture at the time, it is probably safe to conclude
that the Barx soil in the area was mapped at an order 2 intensity of examination.
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