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Transit Mix indicated in their 17 March meeting with landowners. However,the steep sides of <br /> the canyon can result in very high winds channeling down the canyon. When these winds occur, <br /> the dust which has settled within the quarry operations area will be picked up by these winds and <br /> blown out at the canyon mouth. <br /> 6.4 Destruction of Bio-diversity of Canyon Environment. <br /> A Colorado state biologist who performed a bird survey in the canyon about ten years ago <br /> indicated that this canyon was the most bio-diverse ecosystem within the state of Colorado. <br /> Quarry operations will destroy that environment. <br /> The reclamation plan calls for revegetation using a much more limited variety of plants than <br /> exists within the canyon today. The Reclamation Plan mentions a Noxious Weed Management <br /> Plan as being attached, but no such plan was included in the application. <br /> The estimate for the cost of reclamation appears to be much too low. Statements made in Exhibit <br /> L indicate that <br /> "Costs are based on a conservative scenario which the mine is developed to full extent <br /> of the Phase lll, which is approximately 10 years in the future" <br /> And that <br /> "This area does not include areas of Phase 1 that will be reclaimed during Phase 11 <br /> mining." <br /> These two assumptions result in a significant portion of the disturbed area being excluded from <br /> the reclamation cost estimate. For example, Table D-1 indicates that a total of 392.75 acres will <br /> be disturbed during quarry operations, but the reclamation cost estimate only includes <br /> revegetation of 107 acres. Table D-1 indicates that 316,816 bank cubic yards (bcy) of topsoil <br /> will be removed from the quarry pits during the life of the quarry, but the reclamation cost <br /> estimate only calls for 86,644 bcy of topsoil to be returned during the reclamation. <br /> Furthermore, the cost estimate includes a"one mile, downhill haul distance". At least a portion <br /> of the distance from the fines and topsoil piles to the quarry pits will need to be uphill to return <br /> the material to the terraces within the mine pits. <br />