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5-28-1997 d:~2PM FROM• • III IIIIIIIIII'lllll P 2 STATE OF COLORADO Roy Romer, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISIQN OF WILDLIFE MI C-0Ual OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER John W. Mumma, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80276 7a7ephona: (303) 297-7192 2s May 97 Kent A. Gorham Environmental Protection Specialist Division of Minerals and Geology 1313 Sherman St., Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 RE: Lorencito Canyon Mme Permit No. C-96-084 Dear Mr. Gorham: REFER TO Fur Wildlife - For People The Division of Wildlife staffappreciated the opportunity to meet with you and Greystone's Jerry Koblitz to conduct a site visit of the I.orencito Canyon Mme site- Our tour assisted in clarifying many of the issues we had addressed is our previous comments. Asper our discussion doting the site visit, CDOW would like to farther define our concetns and offer the following recommendationswith respect to the proposed application. Revegetation CDOW recommends maintaining the current land use status (wildlife habitat/rangeland) and reclaiming portions of the surface mine using comparable woody species. As stated in our previous letter, this area has significant habitat value for wildlife and thy. conversion of this habitat type to grassland w0l have long-term negative itnpacts. The is htsion of woodyplant species in the revegetatioa prescription should assist greatly in mitigating Hddlife impacts. Iu ~mplistic terms, shrubs pmvide food and cover requirements which aze lacking in the proposed : ~oaotonous seeding of grass. There is vohuninous amounts of information available addressing the importance of oak/pinyon pine and shrub commtmities to wildlife (Hoover and Wt7Lc 1984}, (Beck 1991), (Hoffman, et aL 1993), and (Kufeld, Wsllmo, and Feddema 1973). CDOW would strongly encourage the applicant develop a revegetatioa plan which addresses the issue of appropriate habitat replacement through the establishment of a diverse plant wmtmmity. CDOW recognizes the difficultly in obtainigg and establishing some of the woody species (oak/pinyon) currently present on-site. We acknowledge the applicant's desire to develop a species list which has a high probability of establishmendsuccess. With the inclusion of additional species, the seed mixture developed for the oaklpinyon pine comnnmity provides compt~ able DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES. James S. Lochhead, Executive Director WILGI .FE COMMISSION, Arnold Salazar, Chairman • Rebecca L. Freak. Vice Chair • Mark LeValley. Secrecaiy Louis F Swift, Member • Jesse Langston Boyd, Jr., Member William R. Hogberg, Member • John SNIP, Member • James R. Long, Member