1999-04-26_PERMIT FILE - M1999051 (2)

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0 • The Lease area has the approximate number of acres of each range site shown in Table J-1. The approximate number of acres to be disturbed by project construction also are shown. J-5 EFFECTS ON VEGETATION Vegetation will be removed from those areas of the Rock School Lease required for project operation. The vegetation associations on the Lease area are shown on Figure J-1. The vegetation as described by range type are shown on Figure J-2. The areas of vegetation associations to be removed for each of the associations on the Lease area are: 38.6 acres of pinyon-juniper woodland, 35.7 acres of sagebrush, and 0.3 acres of barren/rock outcrop. The vegetation on those lands will generally be absent or severely reduced during the entire project operation. Total revegetation of some of the disturbed lands is anticipated to require several years after reclamation activities. J-6 MITIGATION OF EFFECTS ON VEGETATION AmerAlia is committed to reclaiming all lands disturbed by the project. The reclamation efforts will be directed toward returning the disturbed lands to the same primary land uses of livestock range and wildlife habitat that exists currently. The methods that AmerAlia will use in reclaiming the land are presented in Exhibit E Reclamation Plan. Implementation of the approved Reclamation Plan is anticipated to mitigate effects on vegetation from the project. J-7 THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES Two species of plants listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act are known to occur in the vicinity of the Rock School Lease Project. The Dudley Bluffs bladderpod (Lesquerella congesta) is found only on exposures of the Thirteenmile Creek Tongue of the Green River Formation on knolls and ridge crests with slopes generally less than 15 percent. The Dudley Bluffs twinpod (Physaria obcordata) is found only on exposures of the Thirteenmile Creek Tongue of the Green River Formation in barren, loose scree on slopes generally greater than 20 percent and on exposures of the Parachute Creek member of the Green River Formation west of Calamity Ridge in barren, loose scree on slopes with southerly or south-westerly aspects (BLM, 1994). A survey for these two threatened plant species was done on part of the lease by Western Slope Environmental Consultants in August of 1989. No individuals of the species were found during that survey. Not all of the area of the lease proposed for disturbance for the experimental pilot plant project has been surveyed. G:\LM=78545.002\Reclamation\Redamexh.DOC J-6