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CARPENTER FEN <br />Carpenter fen is located approximately four miles northwest <br />of Fairplay, CO, off Park county road 14a on property owned by <br />Mr. and Mrs. Steve Carpenter (Figure 5). The fen covers no less <br />than fifty acres. Fewer than ten acres are being disturbed by <br />the current excavations. It lies on glacial till material in a <br />small un -named surface and spring fed drainage at an elevation of <br />10,680 feet. Thickness of the peat averages six feet with <br />thicknesses of seventeen feet having been reported by the <br />landowner and operator (personal conversation, June 1989). The <br />dominant plant cover.is willow, however sedges and some mosses <br />are interspersed throughout. The peatland grades into a <br />reservoir (about 15 acres) on its downhill side (east). <br />An area of about fifteen acres contiguous to the fen and <br />northeast of the present disturbance was excavated at some <br />unknown time in the past. Local landowners place the time of <br />disturbance somewhere prior to the mid- 19701s. Surface grading <br />remains very rough and revegetation is sparse over it's entirety. <br />Most of the bare areas are where the overlying peat layer has <br />either been excavated or eroded down to the underlying till <br />material. It is not known from this study alone why vegetation <br />from the adjacent fen never recolonized this area, although <br />answering that question may prove helpful in suggesting ways to <br />affect reclamation in other areas.The operators working the site <br />are Don and Bill Gerd, also of Fairplay, CO. The methods they <br />use are typical and employ one dragline, a wide track bulldozer, <br />• Appendix B (ii) <br />