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<br />-5- <br />Description of the Environment <br />The 20 acre permit area is situated on a moderately steep {approximately <br />15% slope ) colluvtal deposit between State Highway 133 and the flood <br />plain of the North Fork of the Gunnison River, at an approximate <br />elevation of 5,900 feet. The surrounding area is mountainous, with <br />elevations ranging up to 8,300 feet at the summit of Jumbo Mountain, to <br />the southeast of the permit area. The North Fork in the vicinity of the <br />permit area has the appearance of a moderately broad alluvial valley, <br />extending approximately 1,500 feet wide. The valley separates high table <br />lands south of the river from the slopes of. the Grand Mesa to the north. <br />The climate of the region is typical of the Rocky Mountain area. The <br />valley 15 semi-arid with annual prectpitatton averaging about 15 Inches <br />per year. The May-September prectpitatton 1s 5 inches for the lowlands ' <br />and 13 inches for the mountain peaks. Temperature extremes at Paonia <br />have ranged -28o F 1n January to 100o F during July and August. The <br />average annual temperature is approximately 49° F. Snowfall averages <br />58 Inches per year. <br />The permit area 15 drained by the North Fork of the Gunnison River and <br />qne unnamed ephemeral drainage which crosses the western portion of the <br />permit area. Water in the North Fork 1s characterized as a calcium <br />bicarbonate type with mode~ate levels of sulfate. <br />he flood pof the North Fork, immediately to the south of the permit <br />area, has been found to meet the geomorphic criteria and irrigation <br />requirements of an alluvial valley floor (AVF). <br />Rock strata exposed on the steep slopes to the north of Highway 133 <br />adjacent to the site are sandstones and shales of the Upper Cretaceous <br />Mesaverde Formation. Bedrock underlying the permit area is the Upper <br />Cretaceous Mancos Shale Formation. A colluvtal deposit in excess of 50 <br />feet thick overlies the Mancos within the permit area. Quarternary age <br />alluvial deposits occur within the flood plain--terrace complex of the <br />North Fork in the vicinity of the loadout. <br />Near surface ground water is present in the alluvial aquifer within the <br />present flood plain of the North Fork to the south and topographically <br />below the permit area. No ground water exists within the colluvlum upon <br />which the loadout has been constructed. <br />Soil sampling conducted by the applicant has indicated a clay loam soil <br />with poor horizonal development overlying unconsolidated colluvtal parent <br />material at an average depth of 11 to 13 Inches. <br />«.~ <br />