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2083 CONE/OS RIVER HABITAT IMPROVEMENT WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES Proposal to impove fisheries habitat on the Conejos River below Platoro Reservoir, SUE SWIFT-MILLER, (719) 852-5941, Supervisor's Office, Scoping scheduled for December, '97. ;WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE BONANZA CERCLA REMOVAL ACTION? Since 199 I, the Forest Service has been actively working to get the Bonanza mining area of northern Saguache County cleaned up. Though this is not a NEPA project, we are including the following to keep you up-to-date on the progress of the clean-up work, For more information, call Ron Jablonski, spokesperson, at (719) 852-5941. This project, the environmental cleanup of portions of the Bonanza Mining District near Bonanza, Colorado, is being conducted under CERCLA; or the "Superfund" law (42 U,S,C. 9601 et sea.), and public involvement is being conducted consistent with the National Contingency Plan (40 CFR 300 sa seq.) On-the-ground work started in the 1994 field season. To-date, actions have been voluntary, and privately funded and conducted under Forest Service CERCLA authority and oversite. Where ap- propriate, work has been integrated with activity on adjacent private lands under Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment authority, As of September, 1997: ':" Superior Unit - All work at this unit has been completed except for monitoring. Grass planted on the former tailings pond, and at the nearby soil (cover material) pit, is doing well. Rawlev 12 Unit - Work is ongoing, Work to rehabilitate the Rawley 12 tunnel to approximately 3500' to investigate the feasibility of a plug continues, Workers have cleared the tunnel of debris, bolted the tunnel walls, and installed ventilation and air/water utilities to approximately 2300' where a major roof collapse was encountered. The crews determined that it could take a year to. clear this de' bris, so the decision was made to excavate a new tunnel around the collapsed area; this "run-around tunnel" should be completed wtihin a couple of months. Due to this delay, this phase of work is now expected to be completed in the summer of 1998, Workers have also done stream reconstruction and planting in the area. Cocomongo Millsite Unit - Work at this unit is still held up pending resolution of the complex private land situation (this unit is mostly private land), Other - There have been exciting developments addressing old mining-related problems on pri- vate and BLM-administered public lands near Bonanza this summer! The Colorado Department of Public Health obtained a grant from EPA to remove mill tailings from the "old Bonanza"millsite at the south end of the Town of Bonanza; ASARCO facilitated the work by accepting the tailings in their downstream repository. In the EIkhorn Gulch area, ASARCO moved old mill tailings adjacent to Ker- ber Creek to higher ground and reconstructed the creeek channel. Planting on both of these projects will occur this fall. At the downstream repository area, Kerber Creek is being established in anew, more stable channel, and planting is occurring.