Bear Lodge Project – Bull Hill Mine
January 2013
Weed Management Plan
1
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Rare Element Resources, Inc. (RER) proposes to mine and recover rare earth elements in the Bear
Lodge Mountains of northeastern Wyoming. The proposed Bear Lodge Project consists of the Bull
Hill Mine and Upton Plant Site. The Bull Hill Mine will implement a truck and shovel open pit
mining operation to extract mineral reserves near the ground surface. The Bull Hill Mine study area
is approximately 8,750 acres and is located in central Crook County approximately 12 miles north of
Sundance, Wyoming, within all or portions of Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30 T52N R63W. The Bull Hill Mine permit area is approximately
2,970 acres and is located within all or portions of Sections 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21
T52N R72Wwithin the Bull Hill Mine study area. The proposed access route to the Bull Hill Mine
(Miller Creek Access Route) is located within portions of Sections 18 and 19 T52N R63W; Sections
7, 8, 9, 16, and 21 T51N R63W; Sections 24 and 35 T52N R64W; and Section 1 T51N R64W.
The proposed Bull Hill Mine is located in the Black Hills Section of the Great Plains Province
within the Interior Plains Major Land Resource Area (MLRA 62) (NRCS 2006). The majority of
MLRA 62 is characterized by open to dense forest vegetation with ponderosa pine (
Pinus
ponderosa
) being the dominant species (USDA 2006). Average annual precipitation within this
zone is 16 to 37 inches (NRCS 2006). Elevation within the proposed study area generally ranges
from approximately 3,600 to 6,565 feet above sea level. Nearly half of MLRA 62 is within the
Black Hills National Forest, which supports many land uses including recreation, logging, mining,
and hunting.
The Bull Hill Mine study area and Miller Creek Access Route are located almost entirely on U.S.
Forest System Lands under the administration of the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) –
Bearlodge Ranger District (BRD), with portions occurring on private and state owned lands. RER
will conduct weed management within the Bull Hill Mine permit area and along the Miller Creek
Access Route according to guidelines established for the BHNF/BRD. This WeedManagement Plan
(WMP) will be reviewed and updated, if necessary, specifically after the permit area has been seeded
and annual monitoring has begun.
2.0
LAND USE PLANNING
The BHNF Land and Resource Management Plan proposes the following standards and guidelines
with respect to land use planning decisions for noxious weed management (USDA FS 1997):
1)
For all proposed projects or activities, determine the risk of noxious weed introduction or
spread, and implement appropriate mitigation measures and treatment.
2)
Use biological control methods whenever practical, and whenever protecting other
resources, such as water quality, is desired.
3)
Develop a noxious-weed management program that addresses the following components:
awareness, prevention, inventory, planning, treatment, monitoring, reporting, and
management objectives. Control noxious weeds using the following priority order:
a)
R2 sensitive and species of local concern occurrences of snails and plants
b)
Research natural areas
c)
Botanical areas
