2009-07-15_REPORT - M1988044 (2)

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Jun 25 08 08:13a p.2 install the posts. 2) Schmidt will leave a corridor connecting the Piedmont area south of the mining areas to the Piedmont north of the mining areas. The two upland areas Ul and U2, are separated by an area conducive to a pathway that could provide a migratory corridor (identified on the attached map, identified as Figure 1) for the skipper butterfly to move past the, ruining operation. No mining or disturbance except for a 25 foot wide access road, the location of which to be reviewed and approved by the SLB :Director, will take place within this corridor. 3) With Area M removed, a majority of the mining will occur on land that is either in the adjudicated reservoir site or in the most impacted piedmont grassland that is currently characterized as primarily short-grass prairie with only limited occurrences oftypical piedmont grassland spi ties. Schmidt agrees to commence mining in the adjudicated reservoir site as soon as practicable. 4) It is agreed that limiting excavations to those areas where sand:is present as shown in Figure 1, plus some land surrounding those areas fbr stockpiling topsoil and overburden (stockpiling is included in the 340 acre limit), the mining would be reduced to a point where the impact t on piedmont grassland and other associated habitats would be acceptable to SLB. Figure 1 shows the allowable boundaries of the areas to be mined, the area to be removed from the mining plan, and the various corridors that would remain. Some of Area I L remains, but only that area within the estimated footprint of the resentoir dam. Tile boundaries of the tmining areas to remain in the plan are close, but not exact as the full extent of the sand deposit and the amount of land needed to stockpile topsoil and overburden are still difficult to precisely identify. However, the exploratory pits show a pattern where mineable sand is present (yellow and green circles) and where sand is either not present or of such low quality it would not be worth miner (magenta circles). The zones where mining would occur leave a suitable setback from the most significant drainage course (about 240 feet wide at the narrowest) to protect most of the rasourrces in these areas. A roadway will connect area 1U and 2U crossing the drainage at the crossing location This road would be similar in size to the existing east-rest road that currently passes through this area.. It should be noted that there may be some minor disturbances outside of the mining areas such as post storage for the fonce building as a staging area, but these wound not destroy vegetation or remove] soils. The map also shows an acreage accounting for this area. In summary, the 635 acres in all identified mining areas would be reduced to around 580 acres by the removal most of Area IL. The probable mining areas total 300 acres which leaves about 280 acres of the 580 acres with little or no disturbance occurring. It should be noted that this is a significant reduction from the originally