Laserfiche WebLink
positioned on the Staats land and not on the WFC parcel. This would support that the salvaged <br />soils went with the land owner that had the irrigation water. Although there was some confusion <br />over whether the 15 acres of Barx soil was or was not prime farmland, the Division found, in the <br />findings for the subsequent PR -04, thatthe land in question had been reclaimed to prime farmland <br />standards as far as topsoil handling and depths were concerned. <br />In April 1996, WFC submitted an application for Permit Revision No. 4 (PR -04), which added 100.7 <br />acres to the New Horizon Mine 2 permit area (the Garvey and Burbridge parcels, south of BB Road <br />and immediately east of 2700 Road). The soil survey, conducted by Intermountain Resource <br />Inventories in February 1996, identified no Barx soils within the expansion area. On March 29, <br />1996, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a negative determination <br />for prime farmlands (Attachment 2.04.9 -6) for the expansion area. PR -04 was approved on <br />December 9, 1996. <br />The 1996 NRCS letter references the document, "Colorado Important Farmland Inventory" (CIFI), <br />prepared by the USDA in 1982. The CIFI lists specific USDA criteria, all of which prime farmlands <br />must meet. Item 3 on the list requires a "pH between 4.5 and 8.4 in all horizons within a depth of <br />40 inches or in the root zone if the root zone is less than 40 inches deep ". In addition, certain <br />modifications and /or interpretations of the National Criteria for Prime Farmlands were applied to <br />Colorado, including (Item 4): "irrigated soils with bedrock within 40 inches of the surface and soil <br />horizons that have a pH higher than 7.4 are considered as having high conductivity and therefore <br />not prime ". The NRCS representative also noted that "Based on my observations at these sites, <br />this soil better fits the mapping unit description of Progresso loam than Barx fine sandy loam. <br />Progresso loam does not even qualify as potentially prime." <br />Permit Revision No. 5 (PR -05) added 476.9 acres to the permit and was approved on April 24, <br />2000. Intermountain Resource Inventories (IRI) conducted an Order 1 survey of the proposed <br />expansion area in 1998. Although Barx soils were identified (unit 98E on Map 2.04.9 -1), IRI <br />concluded, based on the Important Farmland Inventory criteria as modified for Colorado, that Barx <br />soil was not considered as being prime farmland because the pH was higher than 7.4 in all <br />horizons. Although the Division made a negative determination for prime farmland for PR -05, <br />salvage of topsoil and subsoil in two separate lifts was to be employed for most soils in the <br />expansion area including 98E, Darvey -Barx complex. The A horizon and upper portions of the B <br />Revised September 2010 (PR 06) 2.04.9 -11 <br />