2008-07-28_PERMIT FILE - X200822902 (3)

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Supporting Information Part 11. Item 4. Description of Lands to be Affected The Lorencito Underground exploration drill holes will be located on existing coal bed methane (CBM) well pads and will be accessed by the developed road network to these well pads. Attachment B, photos 1 and 2, illustrate a typical CBM well pad and associated access roads. There will be no new disturbance of existing vegetation, soils, or other resources as a result of the coal exploration drilling program. The disturbance perimeter of the existing CBM well pads and road network will not be exceeded. The Lorencito Underground exploration drill holes are located within the original Lorencito Mine Permit area. The current smaller Lorencito Mine Permit (C-96-084) includes only the reclaimed surfaced mine areas and associated lands at this time. However, it does include environmental baseline studies for the larger area and the drill hole areas included in this NOI. The cultural resources inventory for the Lorencito Permit Area found a number of sites and isolated finds, but these were mostly lithic scatters and camps. Nearly all sites have been prehistoric in nature with only a handful of historical character. These sites reflect the transitory nature of prehistoric use and later ranching activities. At this time only one site has been recommended for eligibility to the National Register. The more significant sites are mostly restricted to the larger drainages such as Lorencito Canyon and the Purgatoire River drainage. The uplands have far fewer sites. The CBM activity has created disturbances throughout the area and as noted above, the coal exploration drilling activity will be restricted to existing CBM drill pads and roads. The coal exploration project will therefore not result in any impacts to cultural resources. The historical land use includes livestock grazing and wildlife and more recently, industrial including coal extraction and CBM recovery. Ranching and hunting continue to be significant activities in spite of the recent increase in industrial use. The topography is predominated by hills and ridges dissected by steep sided drainages that contain mostly ephemeral drainage channels. The geology is comprised of interbedded sandstones, shales and coal or carbonaceous seams. Sandstone tends to be the more common strata in the area. The soils tend to be loamy and are commonly derived from sandstone parent material prevalent in much of the area. Coarse fragment content in the soils can be high. Areas of sandstone and shale outcrop are present throughout the area. Clay and clay loam soils are also present in the project area due to the presence of interbedded shales in the topography. The surface hydrology is mostly restricted to ephemeral drainages in the uplands and intermittent or small perennial streams in the lower