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Natural Resources Assessment <br />P125 Gravel Mine - Southwest of State Highway 66 and County Road 17 <br />Weld County, Colorado <br /> <br />ERO Project #24-180 6 <br />ERO Resources Corporation <br />notification is submitted to CDPHE. If impacts would exceed those thresholds, HB 24-1379 states CDPHE <br />may issue temporary authorizations for the activities if it would result in net increases in the function <br />and services of state waters (only to stream impacts), or the applicant shows proof of purchase of <br />mitigation bank credits that meet or exceed the compensatory mitigation requirements that would have <br />been applicable under federal Nationwide Permits or Regional General Permits. <br />Beginning January 1, 2025, CDPHE will use existing Nationwide Permits and Regional General Permits for <br />compliance with impacts on state waters until rulemaking is completed and CDPHE has issued general <br />authorizations. Applicants may submit a preconstruction notification as required under the CWA Section <br />404 for authorization. If compensatory mitigation is required, the applicant will be required to obtain <br />temporary authorization from the CDPHE as discussed above. <br />Methods <br />Wetland Delineation <br />During the 2024 site visit, ERO surveyed the project area for potential isolated wetlands, jurisdictional <br />wetlands, and other WOTUS. Before the 2024 site visit, ERO reviewed USGS topographic quadrangle <br />maps, the NWI database, the NHD, and aerial photography to identify mapped streams and areas of <br />open water that could indicate wetlands or WOTUS (USGS 2022; Service, n.d.; USGS 2024; Google, Inc. <br />2024). <br />ERO conducted the wetland delineation following the methods for routine on-site wetland <br />determinations as described in the 1987 Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual and used <br />methods in the Regional Supplement to the Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual: Great <br />Plains Region (Version 2.0) to determine wetland boundaries (Environmental Laboratory 1987; Corps <br />2010). The Corps defines wetlands as “areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water <br />at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a <br />prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally <br />include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas” (33 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 328.2(c)). <br />Wetland boundaries were determined by a visible change in vegetation community, soils, topographic <br />changes, and other visible distinctions between wetlands and uplands. <br />The wetland indicator status of plant species was identified using the National Wetland Plant List, <br />taxonomy was determined using Flora of Colorado, and nomenclature was determined using the PLANTS <br />Database (Corps 2020; Ackerfield 2015; USDA, NRCS 2024). <br />Intermittent, ephemeral, and perennial drainages with characteristics of a defined streambed, <br />streambank, ordinary high water mark (OHWM), and other erosional features also were identified. The <br />OHWM identifies the lateral jurisdictional limits of nonwetland WOTUS. Federal jurisdiction over <br />nonwetland WOTUS extends to the OHWM, defined in 33 CFR 328.3 as “the line on the shore <br />established by fluctuations of water and indicated by physical characteristics such as a clear, natural line <br />impressed on the bank, shelving, changes in the character of the soil, destruction of terrestrial <br />vegetation, the presence of litter and debris, or other appropriate means that consider the