2012-01-06_PERMIT FILE - C1982057 (33)

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contains topsoil information only through the first permit term, Table 21-2A far the II-W South Extention Area, while Table 21-B contains projections for the Sage CreekNVolf Creek area. Suitable topsoil will be salvaged from all significant disturbance areas inGuding sediment ponds (includes pond area, embankment, borrow areas, and spillway for sites located down drainage of mining activities), haul roads, access roads, mining area (includes box cut spoil and highwall reduction area, spoil and waste stockpile areas, office and shop area, explosive storage area, and diversion ditches). Topsoil will be removed from all cut and fill slopes. No topsoil will be salvaged from the light use roads utilized for environmental monitoring or power line corridors, except where cut and fills are required. Prior to topsoil removal, vegetation too large for incorporation into the topsoil will be scraped away and usually combined with the overburden. Occasionally, the vegetation will be transported to final graded slopes and placed in brush piles throughout the reclamation. The remaining vegetation will be incorporated into the topsoil to help increase soil organic matter levels. To prevent unnecessary contamination and loss due to sloughing, topsoil shall be salvaged a minimum of 5 to 15 feet from the edge of a road, end of a pit, embankment, ditch, cut slope, and toe of fill. Topsoil shalt also be salvaged a minimum of 100 feet in advance of the active pit to protect the soil resource from being contaminated during blasting, benching, drilling, and other mining activities. Topsoil will be salvaged about 400 to 500 feet in advance of the active pit during late summer and early fall to provide an adequate buffer during the winter months. Topsoil will be removed by using self-loading scrapers, push scrapers, or other rubber-tired equipment. A dozer or road grader will also be used when needed to assist scraper loading, to facilitate maximum topsoil recovery, and to help build and shape topsoil stockpiles. Where topsoil exists on a steep slope and where there is enough room for scrapers to maneuver at the bottom of that slope, topsoil will be removed by being pushed downhill with a dozer, picked up with scrapers, then stockpiled or transferred directly to final graded areas. in other steep slope situations, topsoil removed by dozers will be pushed outside of the topsoil disturbance area and stored in approved stockpiles at the bottom of that slope. Lastly, in final pit highwall reduction areas, first pit boxcut spoil, along haul roads, and at pond construction sites, topsoil removed by dozers will be pushed outside the topsoil disturbance area and stored temporarily (less than one year) in windrows. Windrows will be located such that no mining activities will disturb them and be marked with topsoil signs to further distinguish them. Berms will also be constructed to protect the windrow from erosion and the potential loss of soil. This topsoil will either be respread over adjacent final graded slopes or will be transported to an approved stockpile site. A one-lift soil handling operation will be used for all soil map units within the projected disturbance area. This method of topsoil removal is desirable because the soils are either shallow (Splitro), moderately deep (Winevada), or deep (Coutis), and have minimal subsoil profile development (thick, organic-rich "A" horizons directly overlie sandstone bedrock), landscape slopes are steep to excessive (equipment mobility and efficiency is severely restricted), mixing will provide a more erosion resistant and PR-OS 24 Revised 01/06 :t