2007-08-08_PERMIT FILE - C1981033

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J.E. Stover & Associates, Inc June 2007 3 Page 3 Physical and Ecological Setting The Bear Mine is an underground coal mine with a permit boundary encompassing 1,108.4 acres, including a permitted area of surface disturbance of 9.8 acres, within Sections 8, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21, all in Township 13 South, Range 90 West of the 6th Principle Meridian, Gunnison County, Colorado (Figure 1). Approximately 988 surface acres within the mine boundary are privately owned and approximately 30 surface acres are public lands administered by the USFS (see Figure 1). The Bear Mine boundary encompasses a gently - sloping narrow terrace of undifferentiated Holocene and Pleistocene deposits in the valley of the North Fork River at approximately 6,000 feet above mean sea level, rising to the south in steep hills of the upper Cretaceous Mesaverde formation (sandstone, siltstone, and shale) to nearly 7,840 feet in elevation. The mine's surface disturbance and above - ground activities occurred on the lower elevation terrace and on benches on the north- facing slopes of the first tier of steep hills just south of the North Fork River (Figure 1). This area includes a sediment pond and a treatment pond, a small administrative building (abandoned), and unpaved roads. The total calculated water consumption rate for the ponds is 0.45 acre -feet per year. The North Fork River lies immediately north of the mine permit boundary. Its corridor is discontinuously vegetated with native narrowleaf cottonwoods, box elders, willows, and other native and naturalized riparian shrubs. The area of permitted surface disturbance is vegetated with seeded cultivar grasses, annual weeds such as cheatgrass, and scattered mixed mountain shrubs. The steep foothills in the majority of the mine permit area support mesic and xeric mixed mountain shrublands interspersed with pinyon - juniper woodlands. At higher elevations, occasional scattered patches or sparse stringers of mixed Douglas -fir and /or aspen exist in mesic semi - riparian settings or steep north- facing drainage patterns. Impact Evaluations The following is an impact evaluation for four species determined to potentially occur within the mine boundary area (bald eagle, yellow - billed cuckoo, Canada lynx, and boreal toad) and four endangered fish species whose downstream critical habitat is affected by water depletions in the North Fork River drainage (bonytail, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and Colorado pikeminnow). Other species listed in Table 1 but not evaluated here were eliminated based on lack of suitable habitat within the mine permit boundary or because their known ranges are documented to lie well outside the mine boundary or its immediate vicinity. Bald eagle The bald eagle was listed as endangered in the conterminous U.S. by USFWS in 1967. Loss of habitat, shooting for feathers, and widespread use of the pesticide DDT are all thought to have contributed to the decline of this species; only 417 pairs were surveyed in the conterminous U.S. in 1963," down from several hundred thousand before the arrival of Europeans on this continent. Since domestic use of DDT was banned in 1972, bald eagle populations have increased dramatically, nearly doubling every 8 years. Approximately 6,500 pairs of bald eagles were recorded in the conterminous U.S. in 2000. In 2001, 45 resident pairs were recorded in Colorado, up from 11 pairs in 1990." The bald eagle was down - listed to threatened in 1995 at Federal Register 60(133):35999- 36010, and proposed for de- listing in 1999 at Federal Register " USFWS. 2006. Population data for the bald eagle. Available at htt r . http://midwest.fws.gov/eagle/. le /. Accessed March 9 p 9 9 ac 3 (1) Rare Earth Science, LLC