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<br />The mule deer will lose 4,700 acres of habitat which is to <br />be replaced with 2,500 acres of purchased land. The elk will <br />lose 2,230 acres of winter range by the construction of the <br />Ridges Basin Reservoir. The land adjacent to the.reservoir <br />is in poor condition and not capable of supporting this <br />increase in the number of animals, therefore according to <br />the EIS "mortality will occur". <br /> <br />-"I <br /> <br />The game fishing in the Animas river is severely limited <br />because of a combination of poor water quality and seasonal <br />flow fluctuations. Rainbow and brown trout are intensively <br />stocked in the river. <br /> <br />According to the DPR: <br /> <br />the section of the Animas River about 15 miles <br />above Durango down to the city has a good stocked <br />year-round trout fishery with an adequate aquatic <br />insect population for fish production: however, the <br />poor stream habitat, the transition from cold water <br />to warm water, the large flow fluctuations, and some <br />residual toxicity from heavy metals contribute to the <br />low diversity indices found in the aquatic community. <br /> <br />Furthermore, the high concentrations of iron, <br />manganese, copper, zinc, cadmium, molybdenum, <br />cyanide, mercury, and silver at Durango are a direct <br />result of the metals contributed to the stream in <br />its headwaters. Metal concentrations vary throughout <br />the year, possibly with upstream activity or flows, <br />although no reliable correlations can be found. <br /> <br />According to project documents there will be minimum bypass <br />flows at the Durango Pumping Plant for the maintenance <br />of fisheries in the Animas River of 225 cfs from April 1 <br />through September 30, except when river flows fall below <br />this level due to naturally low runoff and nonproject <br />diversions. A minimum bypass of 125 cfs would be provided <br />during the remaining months. This translates into an average <br />annual volume of water on the order of 24,700 acre-feet. <br /> <br />The Ridges Basin Reservoir and the Southern Ute Reservoirs <br />will be stocked with fry-fingerling size trout so that <br />flat-water fishing can take place. <br /> <br />~>'; <br />., <br /> <br />e,"., <br />.-_1 <br />.1 <br /> <br />" I <br />.., <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />t. <br /> <br />, <br />(<, <br />'i';,.' <br />I'",' <br />/. <br /> <br />';. <br /> <br /> <br />COL'I'URAL RESOURCES <br /> <br />There are over 3500 aites of archeological material in the <br />project area. Many of these sites are attributable to the <br />Anaaazi Society. There will be a 7-year, 175-aite sample <br />inventory of such material undertaken with ainimal <br />data recovery from 1,000 sites to obtain information on <br /> <br />25 <br />