2018-03-09_PERMIT FILE - M2017049 (29)

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Transit Mix Concrete Co. Response: The various non-government organizations have no regulatory authority over conservation easements,the Colorado Natural Heritage Program is an advisory organization that does not have the authority to draft conservation policy or establish conservation areas,and the question of a conservation easement on the Hitch Rack Ranch relies on the willingness of the landowner and is a land- use issue outside of the jurisdiction of the Division and the Board. Please note that the designation of a PCA has no regulatory effect and imposes no legal obligations. CNHP has designated over 1800 PCAs in Colorado. There are multiple parties that wish to preserve the privately-owned Hitch Rack Ranch property and prevent development of the property. These entities had the opportunity to purchase the ranch, but there was no interest until Transit Mix proposed a quarry at the site. Since then, parties have offered to purchase the property for a value far below the previous asking price. The landowner will continue to operate the property as a ranch, and a conservation easement would prevent future ranching operations. This demonstrates that the property has limited conservation value, and this conservation value is far less than the actual value of the property. The CNHP report for the Aiken Canyon PCA indicates that the mixed foothill shrublands are the "driving" plant community for the site ranking(Stevens, 2001). Based on the vegetation survey included in Exhibit J of the permit application,the north-facing slope where the quarry area is located is almost entirely montane mixed conifer forest. This conifer forest is not included in the biodiversity rating for the Aiken Canyon PCA as the Biodiversity Scorecard lists mixed conifer as one of the least threatened ecosystems in Colorado (Rondeau, 2011). Shrubland is much more common on the south-facing slopes where no mining will occur,thus preserving the shrublands. Also, much of the access road has been located to follow existing ranch roads through grassland areas. This greatly decreases new disturbances and further protects shrublands and grasslands on the lower ranch area. The reclamation plan includes east and south facing slopes that will be revegetated with a mountain shrub mixture and flat areas that will be revegetated with a grassland mixture. These areas are currently north-facing with a conifer plant community, and the quarry plan will actually increase the total area of these important mountain shrubland and grassland plant communities. Also, as discussed in the reclamation plan,these areas with mountain shrubland on the south-facing slopes outside of the affected lands boundary provide winter habitat for elk and other wildlife. Increasing the area of mountain shrubland and grassland and thinning the conifer forested areas will improve elk habitat and potentially increase the population of the elk herd in the area. These facts are also discussed in the reclamation plan with references to CPW's elk management plan (Grigg, 2012). Much of the Aiken Canyon Preserve and essentially all the hiking trails on the preserve are located east of the east fault and therefore fundamentally different in every way from the quarry area. Primarily,the geology and terrain are different—gently sloping terrain with sedimentary rock in Aiken Canyon versus mountainous terrain with igneous/metamorphic rock in the quarry area. These key differences result in different soil types and depths and different vegetation communities. The aerial photography imagery included in Figure 2 shows that the mixed conifer vegetation in the quarry area differs from the shrubland vegetation in rest of the Aiken Canyon PCA. The majority of the Aiken Canyon PCA south of the quarry area contains shrubland or grassland vegetation due to the sedimentary geology with gently sloping terrain east of the fault system or south-or east-facing slopes west of the fault system. A Hitch Rack Ranch Quarry Response to Comments March 9,2018 8