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<br />nearby residential neighborhoods due to their close proximity to the Cherry Creek <br /> <br />Project. The accumulated listing of the National Register of Historic Places was <br /> <br />consulted and no sites currently listed are located in the are" of this project <br /> <br /> <br />,alternative. <br /> <br />ALTERNATIVE 5 - CONSTRUCT CASTLEWOOD DAM <br /> <br /> <br />This alternative would include construction of an earth-rockfill dam on <br /> <br />Cherry Creek approximately 30 miles upstream from Cherry Creel' Dam. <br /> <br />The site for this dam, which wou).d be wit:hin Castlewood Su,te Park and just <br /> <br />downstream from the site of the 010 Castle..ood Dam of 1890, possesses high <br /> <br />ecological, environmental, and aesthetic valuE!s. Because of i tr, remoteness from <br /> <br /> <br />urban areas. along with the naturctl variations in topography., soils, and <br /> <br />micro.climat:es that exist here I this area provides an ext:remely wide variety of <br /> <br />ecological niches and supports a great diversity of plant: and animal life, Due <br /> <br /> <br />to these unique conditions, many species of flora and fauna, which normally are <br /> <br /> <br />a.ssociated with either prairie or mont:ane ecosystems, coexist in this relatively <br /> <br />small area in much greater densi tie5 than woul.d be found in ei ther of these <br /> <br />vegetation zones alone. <br /> <br />The Castlewood Canyon area is located at;. t:he north~~rn edge of Colorado's <br /> <br />Black Forest, a unique vegetative island of dense coniferous trees~ -primarily <br /> <br /> <br />Douglas fir and ponderosa pine- -which exists along this segment of the Rocky <br /> <br /> <br />Mountain front range. Scattered groves of aspen, which are extremely rare at <br /> <br /> <br />these elevations I are also found on the canyon's east slopes. Castlewood Canyon <br /> <br />State Park was created to preserve this unique vegetation as an example of the <br /> <br /> <br />Black Forest ecosystem. <br /> <br />Wildlife abounds in the Castlewood Canyon area, dUE! primarily to the great <br /> <br />variety of ecological niches which are avail..ble for habitat, Because of the <br /> <br /> <br />area's diverse vegetational transition zones, a unique interplay of splacies from <br /> <br />sE~veral ecosystems exists here. The canyon even harbors such large predators as <br /> <br /> <br />the cougar, with several sightings having been reported from this arE!a, <br /> <br />59 <br />