2012-04-27_REVISION - C1996083 (2)

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J.E. Stover & Associates, Inc April 24, 2012 Page 4 Gunnison River watershed (a total of 326.7 acre -feet annually). Also, surface and subsurface activities under the purview of public land agencies have triggered T &E inventories and Biological Assessments within the Mine Permit Boundary. These are discussed where relevant in the "Impact Evaluations" part of this letter. Physical and Ecological Setting The Bowie No. 2 Mine is an underground coal mine with a permit boundary encompassing approximately 8,301 acres within parts of Sections 1 and 12, Township 13 South, Range 91 West of the 6 th Principal Meridian (P.M.); parts or all of Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 22 in Township13 South, Range 91 West of the 6 th P.M.; parts of Sections 27, 28, 33, and 34 in Township 12 South, Range 91 West of the 6 th P.M., Delta County, Colorado (Figure 1). Approximately 54 percent of the surface acreage within the mine boundary is privately owned, about 23 percent of the surface acreage is administered by the U.S. Forest Service, and about 23 percent of the surface acreage is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (see Figure 1). The Bowie No. 2 Mine permit boundary lies within the Colorado Plateau Physiographic Province between the Hubbard Creek and Stevens Gulch drainages, tributary to the North Fork of the Gunnison River (North Fork River). The permit boundary encompasses a gently - sloping narrow terrace of undifferentiated Holocene and Pleistocene deposits in the valley of the upper North Fork River at approximately 5,860 feet above mean sea level, rising to steep slopes and cliffs of the upper Cretaceous Mesaverde formation (sandstone, siltstone, and shale) reaching nearly 8,700 feet in the southwest part of the permit boundary area. The current area of permitted surface disturbance is 326.6 acres (Figure 2). The majority of the mine's surface disturbance and above - ground activities occur on the lower elevation terrace and on benches on the south - facing slopes of the first tier of steep hills north of the North Fork River. These activities include conveyance, stockpiling, and loading of coal, and administrative activities at headquarters buildings. Exploration drill holes, gob vent bore holes, vent shafts, water monitoring wells, temporary and reclaimed roads, and other appurtenant surface structures are scattered throughout the hills in the remainder of the permit area, in support of the underground mine workings. The North Fork River is approximately an eighth -mile south of the mine boundary. Its corridor is vegetated with high - quality mixed stands of native narrowleaf and Rio Grande cottonwoods, willows, and other riparian shrubs. The terrace encompassed by the mine's south boundary is occupied by the old Bowie town site and farmlands, and supports little native vegetation, with the exception of the Fire Mountain Canal, with its somewhat discontinuous corridor of native and naturalized riparian trees and shrubs. The steep foothills in the majority of the mine permit area support mesic and xeric mixed montane shrublands dominated by Gambel oak and interspersed with pinyon - juniper woodlands or small patches of sagebrush shrublands. A few small isolated patches of aspen or aspen mixed - conifer stringers are present in the steep draws at higher elevations in the Mine Permit Boundary. Several small meadows are also present in the high country, as well as springs, small ponds, and many seasonal drainages. Stretches of the perennial streams Terror Creek and Hubbard Creek and their narrow riparian corridors traverse the mine RARE EARTH SCIENCE