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Elk Creek Mine (C-1981-022) MT-8 <br /> Description of the Environment <br /> The permit area consists of 15,676.51 acres: 10,125.51 acres are federally owned (USFS and BLM) and <br /> 5,551 acres are privately-owned lands. The coal reserve owners include Oxbow Mining, LLC, other <br /> private entities and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. <br /> Surface facilities are located in the Elk Creek, Bear Creek, Hubbard Creek, and Sanborn Creek <br /> drainages on the north side of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Mining areas include workings <br /> under the Hubbard Creek, Elk Creek, Bear Creek and Coal Gulch drainages. Workings in the Sanborn <br /> Creek East Tract have undermined A, B, C and Hoopla Gulches, Bardine Canyon, Hawk's Nest Creek <br /> and an unnamed tributary of Thompson Creek. Hubbard Creek is a perennial tributary of the North <br /> Fork and provides both domestic and agricultural supplies of water. Bear Creek, Elk Creek and <br /> Sanborn Creek are intermittent streams. Coal Gulch, the unnamed drainage, A, B and C Gulches, <br /> Hawk's Nest Creek, Hoopla Gulch, Bardine Canyon and Thompson Creek are all ephemeral drainages <br /> that flow to the North Fork. <br /> The North Fork River Basin contains a developed water supply providing agricultural water to the fruit <br /> growing region of the North Fork Valley. The North Fork River enters the main stem of the Gunnison <br /> River approximately 25 miles southwest of the Elk Creek Mine. The drainage basin of the North Fork <br /> is mountainous, bounded to the east by the Raggeds and Huntsman Ridge, to the South by the West <br /> Elk Mountains, and to the North by Grand Mesa. Elevations in the basin range from 13,058 feet atop <br /> Mt. Owen in the Ruby Range, to 5,100 feet at the confluence of the North Fork of the Gunnison and <br /> Gunnison Rivers. The town of Somerset, Colorado, immediately adjacent to the Elk Creek Mine, is at <br /> an elevation of 6,045 feet. <br /> Ground reconnaissance during 1978, 1979 and 1980 identified Elk No. 1 Spring as the only location <br /> with ground water surfacing within the original permit area, and this had a flow rate of less than one <br /> gallon per minute. It is concluded that there is no large ground water reservoir in the area. <br /> Western Slope Carbon identified and monitored 11 springs within or adjacent to the Sanborn East <br /> Tract. Monitoring records are available from 1983 through 1987. Somerset Mining Company, now <br /> Oxbow Mining, LLC, resumed monitoring these springs in July 1992. Springs 1 through 6 are located <br /> along the north boundary of the Sanborn East Tract in the northern portion of Section 2. Springs 7 <br /> through 11 are located along the southern boundary of the new tract. The locations of the springs <br /> are shown on Map 2.04-M5 of the Permit Application Package (PAP). <br /> With Permit Revision No. 5 (PR-05), Oxbow Mining LLC undertook a new survey of surface water <br /> resources in the Elk Creek Mine tract. While there are no adjudicated water resources in that tract, <br /> the USFS and USBLM requested that OMLLC inventory the resources. Resources identified were <br /> added to Map 2.04-M5 of the PAP. <br /> Page 6 of 22 <br />