2011-08-04_ENFORCEMENT - C1981008 (4)

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v 0 \RCS Natural Resources Conservation Service Southem Rocky Mts. Regional Soil Survey Office DFC Bldg. 56, Rm. 2604, P. O. Box 25246 Denver, CO 80224 April 4, 2011 Alex Birchfield Ecologist Office of Surface Mining 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320 Denver, CO 80201 -6667 Appendix C OSM Review of Colorado Permit C- 008 -81 United States Department of Agriculture Re: Request for Soils Opinion Concerning Order 1 Soil Survey of the New Horizon Mine and Morgan Property To recap, you sent a March 23, 2011 email to Jim Boyd, NRCS district conservationist in Norwood, and Dave Dearstyne, soil scientist in Montrose, requesting assistance in determining capability class, irrigated alfalfa yields, and prime farmland designations for soil map units 98D, 98E, 98F, P (ponds), and NST (No Suitable Topsoil) identified in the Order 1 soil survey prepared by Intermountain Resource Inventories, Inc, a private contractor. Jim Boyd forwarded your email to me to assist with the response. I responded to you in an email sent on March 29, 2011, stating that we could not answer your questions concerning map units identified on the Morgan property in the Order 1 soil survey conducted because we did not have the necessary soil property information from the Order 1 soil survey. According to our records, NRCS Colorado was never formally presented a copy of the Order 1 soil survey for official review and opinion prior to March 31, 2011. On March 31, 2011 1 met with you, Rick Williamson, and Amy McGregor here at my office to discuss the issue. At that time you presented to me the map and associated soils information for the Order 1 soil survey prepared by Intermountain Resource Inventories. The map was a hard copy paper map at a scale of 1" = 400' (1:4,800) with no photographic background. The soil's information consisted of very brief map units descriptions, official soil series descriptions (incorrectly identified as "taxonomic unit descriptions" in the Order 1 soil survey), brief soil pedon descriptions (point data), and lab data results. From that meeting I agreed we would study the soils information provided to us and render a professional opinion based on the information on hand. I directed Tom Hahn, Senior Regional Soil Scientist, and William Shoup, Assistant State Soil Scientist, to compile the point and lab data information associated with the soil map units identified on the Morgan property, and, if possible correlate the soil map units and soil 18