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III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE (continued) <br />Access Roads. Access roads were in good condition; there was minimal gullying. Access <br />roads at the extreme east and west ends of Trapper (Flume Gulch and West Buzzard, <br />respectively) were impassable due to slippery conditions during the three-day inspection; they <br />will be inspected next month. <br />Light-duty Roads. Two light-duty roads are severely gullied: the road leading to Elk Pond and <br />the road leading to Oak Gulch. Both need grading. The Elk Pond road was passable; but the <br />Oak Gulch road was not. Other access roads were in good condition. <br />Ditches <br />All ditches appeared to have design capacity. Collection ditches next to haul roads showed <br />minimal erosion or deposition from the heavy runoff. Contour ditches in the A-pit slide area were <br />in good condition and were well-vegetated. Diversion ditches on the south side of Trapper were <br />condition with good vegetative cover and sides intact; these are South #2, #3, and #4; Elk #1, <br />Deer #1, and Ute #1. <br />Culverts <br />One of the two A-5 culverts was completely plugged with sediment, rocks, and brush at its inlet <br />end. The operator will clear this culvert after the ground dries. There is minor scouring at the <br />outlet end of GRS-1. Both ends of A-12 have minor erosion; this culvert has had sediment in it <br />in past monthly inspections, but now is completely clear. EM-1 is about 20% filled with <br />sediment, but is functional. All other culverts are clear, and do not have scouring at their outlet <br />ends. <br />The side channel leading to the inlet area of BC-2 (below the No Name #2 pond) did not erode <br />in the recent heavy runoff despite the concerns noted in last month's inspection report about the <br />possible ineffectiveness of riprap. <br />Sedimentation Ponds, Drainage Channels, and Flumes <br />Condition of Pond Embankments and Inslopes. None of the ponds' dam embankments or <br />inslopes showed signs of significant erosion and there were no signs of differential settling. Only <br />the newest ponds, Oak #1 and #2, lack vegetative cover. <br />Runoff Volumes, Erosion/Depos/tion. As shown in Table 1, ponds were still discharging large <br />volumes of water in the following drainages: No Name, Johnson Gulch, East Pyeatt, and <br />Grouse. Ponds were just below the point of discharging in Sage, Oak, and Elk. <br />Forrest Luke said that at one time during the heavy rain he observed the dam at East Pyeatt #1 <br />being overtopped by water in the pond. Inspection found the top of the dam was littered with <br />sticks and there were minor gullies on the downstream side, but there was no other indication <br />the dam had been overtopped. <br />Runoff from the heavy rains caused severe erosion in the reclaimed portion of East Pyeatt <br />drainage above East Pyeatt #1 pond between North A Road and Mid A Road. A few hundred <br />feet of the drainage channel is eroded out to a depth of 8 feet, by 20 feet wide. Spoils are <br />exposed in the channel. The operator is considering repair options for this channel. The work <br />will be done next spring. An important objective in the repair will be stabilization of the channel <br />without adding excessive fill that could be eroded. <br />Page 4 <br />