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RULE 2 PERMITS <br />Land Condition Capability and Productivity <br />The present condition of the permit area can be described as good to fair for rangeland conditions. A <br />trend toward improvement has taken place over much of the area due to reduced livestock grazing <br />during the last several years since the land was obtained by Colowyo. Grazing has not been allowed <br />within the initial Colowyo permit area since fences were constructed in 1977 and will not be allowed in <br />the additional permit area once fences are constructed in 1991. <br />Areas where range condition was rated fair was restricted to the areas near the drainage areas and <br />especially watering ponds. These areas were concentration areas for livestock and commonly experienced <br />range deterioration. The remainder of the unmined lands within the permit area were and continue to be- <br />in "good" range condition. <br />In most cases, the soils within the permit area currently are being utilized for rangeland purposes with the <br />agronomic usefulness of these soils being limited to usage- as rangeland. Additional information on soils <br />is found in Section 2.04.9. <br />Productivity of the rangeland and pastureland areas in the permit area, in terms of forage production, and <br />major uses as obtained from Range Site Descriptions prepared by the USDA - Soil Conservation service, <br />are found in Exhibit 9, Soils Information. The annual forage production in terms of pounds of air dry <br />forage per acre during normal precipitation years averages 400 lb/acre across the permit area with a range <br />from 100 to 1,000 pounds per acre. <br />Based on information from the Bureau of Land Management, the ability of the vegetation to support <br />domestic animals is broken down as follows: 27.5 acres/AUM (Animal Unit Month) in pinyon juniper <br />vegetation type, seven acres/AUM in sage brush type, 5.5 acres/AUM in mountain shrub type, and 3.5 <br />acres/AUM in the bottomlands that are used for grazing. <br />Hydrological Capabili <br />As explained and detailed in the discussions under Sections 2.04.5 and 2.04.7, the available ground and <br />surface water supplies in and adjacent to the permit area are limited in quantity and highly variable in <br />quality. No major groundwater discharge points occur in the permit area. Several small seeps do occur as <br />a result of infiltration of snowmelt and rainstorm activity, but these are highly dependent on seasonal <br />precipitation. Groundwater occurrence is very limited in the mining area. <br />Surface water flows are also extremely limited. Two of the surface drainages are intermittent and two are <br />perennial, but yield only slight amounts of water in the post snowmelt runoff period. The semi-arid <br />climate prevailing in the area, detailed in Section 2.04.8, precludes extensive surface flows and <br />contributes to the highly variable surface water quality found in the permit and adjacent areas. <br />Capability of the Land to Support a Variety of Uses <br />Physical and social constraints at the present time severely limit the variety of uses suitable for lands <br />within the permit area. <br />Alternative Land Uses <br />Because of the hydrologic and soil constraints, there are serious limitations that might be expected if the <br />present land uses of rangeland, pastureland and cropland are changed to other uses. <br />Rule 2 Permits 2.04.3-2 Revision Date: 6/23/08 <br />Revision No.: MR-91