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If weather prevents use of equipment for planting, the seed may be hand broad- <br />cast. <br />Planting is conducted in the fall. Drainageways however, may be seeded in the <br />early spring by hand broadcasting if conditions and circumstances warrant. <br />3.6.2.5 Erosion Control <br />Erosion control on cropland areas is simplified because slopes will be <12%, but <br />compounded by the fact that the land use for these areas will promote the poten- <br />tial for erosion. Several strategies will be employed to reduce the erosion <br />potential on these areas. First, as mentioned, cropland will not be reestab- <br />lished on slopes >12% even though it occurred on such slopes prior to mining. As <br />discussed in Section 3.6.2, an equal amount of cropland will be restored but its <br />location will be changed to avoid slopes >12%. Secondly, significant ephemeral <br />drainages through cropland will not be farmed but will be seeded to perennial <br />IS vegetation. Farming will be done by local farmers under written agreement with <br />Trapper to ensure that tillage is minimal. Croplands are seeded to a legume and <br />perennial grasses to provide a perennial plant cover, improve soil organic con- <br />tent and limit soil erosion. Twenty acres were experimentally seeded to alfalfa <br />in 1979 to test the usefulness of this approach. <br />Rills and gullies commonly occur on croplands in the area as a result of spring <br />runoff. Figure 3.6-3 shows a picture of a farmer's field in the spring of 1980 <br />adjacent to the mine but unaffected by mining. If gullies, sufficient to impeed <br />farm equipment, develop on reclaimed cropland, they will be periodically elimi- <br />nated by filling and reseeding. To the extent practicable, such rills and <br />gullies will be prevented by the controls previously described. If gullies begin <br />to form in the small drainages within croplands that are seeded to perennial <br />vegetation, they will be stabilized through approved SCS techniques. <br />0 <br />3-74 <br />REVISED FEB 13 '87