2009-08-25_PERMIT FILE - M2009070

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United States Department of Agriculture N RCS uma ounty Conservation District Natural Resources Conservation Service 247 N Clay N Wray, CO 80758 March 17, 2009 Howard McGinnis Yuma County Road and Bridge Wray, CO Dear Howard, I looked at the potential road bed site in the NE4, NE4, 25-5N-43 for reclamation purposes after mining is completed. I focused on the area with soil 26, Laird fine sandy loam as this soil will. have the most potential as road bed material. It is contained to the low lying and mostly flat swale between the sand hills to the east and west, and a slight rise to the south. This swale is a fairly degraded site. Most of the vegetation is Russian thistle, kochia, and salt grass. I did find some blue grama, western wheat, little bluestem and sideoats grama plus a few broadleaved plants. Just south of the trail into the windmill, there is a noticeable area of little bluestem that makes up at least 75% of the production for that acre or two. Because the surface layer of soil is so significantly different than the underlying soil, you will want to use caution when scraping and setting the surface layer aside. If too much of the underlying soil gets mixed into the surface layer, it will be nearly impossible to reclaim the site due to the minerals in the underlying layer. See attached soil description. I suggest your reclamation seed mix consist of 15-20% switchgrass, 10-15% yellow indiangrass, 15-20% little bluestem, 15-25% western wheatgrass, 10-15% sideoats grama, 10-15% blue grama, and 0-10% needle-and-thread. The surface soil layer will need to be replaced and reshaped so the grass seed can be drilled. A clean, weed and seed free straw should be crimped in for mulch. If you have any questions, or need further information please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Julie Elliott Rangeland Management Specialist Helping People Help the Land An Equal Opportunity Employer and Provider