2011-01-13_REVISION - C1981038 (8)

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communities where Utah juniper Juni erus osteosperma) dominates over pinon pine Pinus edulis). Other communities disturbed to a lesser degree include agriculture (orchards), mixed shrub, and riparian. No threatened or endangered plant species have been identified on the permit area. Fish and Wildlife - Rules 2.04.11, 2.05.6(2), 4.18 The fish and wildlife resources sections of the application can be found on pages 56 to 87, Section 2.04 of Volume 1 and in the Wildlife Appendix, Volume 9A. The Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan can be found on pages 87 to 94, Section 2.05 of Volume 1. The general area contains important winter range for both elk and deer, and over 10,000 hunter days per year are spent in this area. Golden eagles have been nesting near the mine site for several years, but no threatened or endangered wildlife species have been observed. The North Fork of the Gunnison River contains twelve (12) species of fish, including three (3) species of game fish (rainbow trout, brown trout, and northern pike). However, due to the poor production of benthic organisms and poor habitat conditions, the North Fork is not stocked frequently. Impacts to wildlife are minimized by prohibiting public use of trails when big game are concentrated in the winter (December 1 to April 16), and by prohibiting the cutting of snags except those within the actual disturbed area. Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans The Bowie No. 1 Mine was an underground mine which had been in operation since 1975 but which has ceased operations and is in the process of being reclaimed. There are three major disturbed areas within the permit boundary. The original portals east of Steven's Gulch were the site of the main offices, crushing and screening facilities, and storage and warehouse areas. Before reclamation activities began in 2000, the Bowie No. 1 West Mine portals on East Roatcap Creek used to be adjoined by a small maintenance facility, ventilation shaft and water tank. The coal loadout facilities were located adjacent to the North Fork of the Gunnison River along State Highway 133. The Bowie No. 1 West Mine portal facilities in East Roatcap Creek enabled Bowie Resources Limited to access the reserves that had been cut off due to the fire at the main portals. Mining occurred west of the main East Mine during the 1988 to 1993 five-year mine plan. The East Mine portals were rehabilitated during late 1992 and early 1993. The two mines were connected underground in June 1993 and a beltline was used to transport the majority of coal out of the east portals to the crushing and screening facility located at the east mine. This precluded the trucking of coal from the west mine portals, which had occurred when the West Mine became operational. The approved plan to construct rock slope tunnels to connect the east and west mines became obsolete with the rehabilitation of the east mine portals. The general direction of mining had been northward to extract coal from the D seam. When mining was active, the coal had moved from the mining face via a continuous haulage system shuttle cars to a feeder-breaker and then out of the east mine via conveyor belt to a surge bin, a screening/crushing facility and a truck loading facility. After mining at the Bowie No. 1 Mine had ceased, BRL periodically would truck coal from the Bowie No. 2 Mine to the Bowie No. 1 Mine storage silos and railroad loadout facility where it was loaded onto trains for shipment to market. However, most of the Bowie No. 1 Mine unit train loadout facilities have been demolished and removed. Because mining has ceased, there is no predicted production rate for this five-year permit term. The mine utilized the room and pillar mining method of extracting coal. 18