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installed in floodplain ponds with an outlet to either the Colorado River <br />or Gunnison River. <br />D. <br />E. <br />be reconnects <br />bottoms could <br />subside. <br />Operations. <br />the Colorado <br />gravel mining <br />i the Rivers. Under this alternative, floodplain ponds would <br />i to either the Colorado River or the Gunnison River if the <br />be sloped so that they drai n i nto the river as the streamfl ows <br />Under this alternative, gravel-pit ponds in the floodplain of <br />and Gunnison rivers would be filled upon completion of new <br />operations. <br />IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT ENVIRONMENT <br />A. Overview of Pro.iect Area. The project area includes the Upper Colorado <br />River from the Colorado-Utah state line upstream to Rifle, Colorado and the <br />reach of the Gunnison River from its confluence with the Colorado River <br />upstream to Delta, Colorado (Figure 1). Most of the ponds are located in <br />the floodplain of the rivers that are concentrated in'the Grand Valley from <br />Loma to Palisade, Colorado (Mesa County), DeBeque to Rifle, Colorado <br />(Garfield County), and upstream and downstream of Delta, Colorado (Delta <br />County). <br />The Grand Valley is a broad, fertile valley and floodplain carved by the <br />Colorado and Gunnison rivers with two dominant land forms -- the Uncompahgre <br />Plateau and the Grand Mesa (Mesa County Planning Commission 1996). The Ute <br />Indians used the Grand Valley as a wintering and hunting area. Mesa County <br />was part of the Ute Reservation established by a 1868 treaty until the Utes <br />were moved to Utah in 1881, allowing white settlers to homestead in the <br />Grand Valley. Presently, agricultural lands in the Grand Valley comprise <br />over 4.2 million acres and urban areas comprise approximately 1.0 million <br />acres (Mesa County Planning Commission 1996). <br />The human population in Mesa County was 109,769 persons.. in 1997 (Grand <br />Junction Area Chamber of Commerce 1997). Nearly half of the persons <br />(40,125) in Mesa County in 1995 resided in Grand Junction. Most of the <br />people reside in the urban communities with about half of the population in <br />Grand Junction. Presently, the five major occupations in the area include <br />services (28%), retail stores (25%), government employment (17%), <br />manufacturing (8.5%), and construction (>6%) (Grand Junction Area Chamber <br />of Commerce 1997). Only 1.3% of the people in the Grand Valley are employed <br />in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (Mesa County Planning Commission <br />1996}. Projections for human population growth in Mesa County is about <br />116,500 persons by the Year 2000 and slightly over 137,000 by the Year 2010 <br />(Mesa County Planning Commission 1996). <br />Rifle, Colorado is the upstream end of the critical habitat for the <br />endangered Colorado River fishes. Rifle is located in Garfield County and <br />contained a population of nearly 5,300 people in 1994 (Rifle Area Chamber <br />of Commerce Undated). Residents of Rifle are involved in various <br />8 <br />