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10/5/17 <br /> Mr. Montgomery, USACE <br /> Page 4 of 12 <br /> also advised against getting involved with the Section 404 matters unless there was no other <br /> recourse. Consequently, we arranged a meeting directly with the gravel company managers <br /> and discussed the issue of groundwater supply with them in a letter and subsequent meeting <br /> (Reference my attached letter to Greg Norwick on July 21, 2004). The reclamation plan was <br /> eventually modified in May 2010 to raise those proposed water surface elevations but there <br /> are still concerns as noted on Figure 1 and described below. <br /> Maryland Creek Ranch (MCR) Permit(The following references were obtained <br /> through open, public files on the DRMS website). <br /> Everist currently operates the gravel mine under the Maryland Creek Ranch mining <br /> permit (CO DRMS #M1996049). Everist filed a Section 404 application for wetland impact <br /> authorization at the MCR facility in 1997. Public Notice 199675341 for the Section 404 permit <br /> was made by the Corps on January 23, 1997. 1 have no record of the public response to that <br /> notice. However, it is particularly interesting that the public notice does not mention the <br /> mitigation plan for the Love Pit across the highway, nor is it mentioned in the reclamation plan <br /> for the MCR gravel mining; even though the gravel company had such a convoluted history <br /> with Section 404 requirements at the Love Pit, and even though the reclamation plan for the <br /> Love Pit that described the non-fluctuating groundwater supply pre-dated that public notice by <br /> seven years. The public notice only labels it"Existing Gravel Operation". In retrospect, had I <br /> been involved in 1996 1 would have commented that it should be one single and composite <br /> project since the groundwater supply is crucial and directly influences the two Section 404 <br /> permit areas. <br /> The most current mining and reclamation plan maps for the MCR mining (May 2010), <br /> that shows the ultimate pre- and post-mining terrain designs are attached. Lake 5 directly <br /> across from the northern part of the South Pond will have a water surface elevation of 8530 <br /> and the next lake south of that(Lake 4)will have a final water surface elevation of 8542. <br /> Current Mining Methods, Mitigation Attempts, Conditions,and Concerns <br /> Everist changed the mining method prior to 2017 from primarily dragline dredging to a <br /> method using mobile equipment for extracting the sand and gravel soils from the alluvium. In <br />