2017-12-19_PERMIT FILE - M2017049 (142)

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land support. As a resident I can confirm the statements that the deer, elk, bobcats, mountain lions elk, black bear, coyote, fox, a multitude of small mammals, a large bird population, a wide variety of birds of prey and a huge wild turkey population thrive and are dependent upon the water, protection and important and unique migration routes that Little Turkey Creek provides. The quarry will mine down to the creek and essentially cut off and thus threaten this critical wildlife resource. For context, the Schmidt Quarry, to the south, has already cut off Big Turkey Creek's ecosystem and migration routes and thus creates an even greater need to keep the Little Turkey Creek route open and useable. The State of Colorado, through its Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) has identified this exact area as having "very high significance" because of its important plant and wildlife communities. It is also an important part of a unique and small area where the "Peaks to Plains" ecosystems come together and overlap, which is specifically why The Nature Conservancy and the State Land Board have joined in the ownership and management of 1,830 acres of land located immediately south of the proposed quarry. Per the Nature Conservancy and CNHP, this area "merits the highest standards of inventory and protection." The quarry's impacts to habitat, water and ecosystem will irreversibly harm the all forms of the area's wildlife. Water- Surface and well water are critical resources, which the proposed quarry would seriously disturb and compromise. In addition to the importance of Little Turkey Creek to the broader ecosystem and wildlife, it drains a large basin to the west and must handle large storm events. The quarry cannot handle these types of events, s which puts the whole creek basin at risk when storm waters wash through it moving rock and toxins downstream possibly changing the topography and ecosystem forever. The permit application hardly mentions or addresses ground water which is also huge area of grave concern because all the residents in the around the mine and in the Highway 115 corridor use fragile granite aquifers and wells for their domestic water supply. The quarry sits on or near several faults and the entire water system is located in unknown fractured granite. The blasting and mining could change to the aquifers, faults, and unknown connected fractures, which would devastate the entire residential area. This certainly would not promote our health, safety, and general welfare. Dust. Pollutants and Noise —The blasting and mining of granite and the operation of an on site crushing operation will create tremendous amounts of dust and noise. This will effect nearby neighbors who live up and down canyon from the proposed quarry, specifically the residences living along Little Turkey Creek east and west of quarry and 89 residences in the Red Rock Valley subdivision. The predominant winds in this area are downslope from the west and they will push the dust and noise down Little Turkey Creek and the Deadman Creek canyons directly onto residents. In addition, northerly and northwesterly winds occur often with storms and frontal passages and those winds will pick up the dust from the exposed granite, highwalls and crushing plant and again move it down the two stream canyons. This will negatively impact the "health, safety and general welfare" of the existing neighbors. Reclamation —Quarries and their impacts are forever, cannot be "undone" or truly "reclaimed" and the sites and surrounding areas can never function as they do now in their natural state.