PERMFILE40373

• Permit No: C1996083
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 1/15/2002
• Doc Name: 1995 AND1996
• Section_Exhibit Name: Volume III Exhibit 09 Wildlife
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Bowie Resources Limited's Bowie No. 2 Coal Mine will be an underground mine in
T. 13 S., R. 91 W., Delta County, Colorado. The permit area will encompass
2,327 acres with 76 surface acres disturbed and a potential of 1,500 acres
that could be impacted by subsidence. Based on a production estimate of
2 million tons of coal per year, the mine will deplete 121.8 acre-feet of
water annually from the North Fork of the Gunnison River.
BASIS FOR BIOLOGICAL OPINION
This biological opinion addresses an average annual depletion of approximately
121.8 acre-feet from the Upper Colorado River Basin. Water depletions in the
Upper Basin have been recognized as a major source of impact to endangered
fish species. Continued water withdrawal has restricted the ability of the
Colorado River system to produce flow conditions required by various life
stages of the fishes.
Critical habitat has been designated for the Colorado squawfish, humpback
chub, bonytail, and razorback sucker within the 100-year .floodplain in
portions of their historic range (59 F.R. 13374). Destruction or adverse
modification of critical habitat is defined in 50 CFR 402.02 as a direct or
indirect alteration that appreciably diminishes the value of critical habitat
for both the survival and recovery of a listed species. In considering the
• biological basis for designating critical habitat, the Service focused on the
primary physical and biological elements that are essential to the
conservation of the species without consideration of land or water ownership
or management. The Service has identified water, physical habitat, and
biological environment as the primary constituent elements. This includes a
quantity of water of sufficient quality that is delivered to a specific
location in accordance with a hydrologic regime that is required for the
particular life stage for each species. Water depletions reduce the ability
of the river system to provide the required water quantity and hydrologic
regime necessary for recovery of the fishes. The physical habitat includes
areas of the Colorado River system that are inhabited or potentially habitable
for use in spawning and feeding, as a nursery, or serve as corridors between
these areas. In addition, oxbows, backwaters, and other areas in the 100-year
floodplain, when inundated, provide access to spawning, nursery, feeding, and
rearing habitats.
BIOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
Colorado Sauawfish
The Colorado squawfish evolved as the main predator in the Colorado River
system. The diet of Colorado squawfish longer than 3 or 4 inches consists
almost entirely of other fishes (Vanicek and Kramer 1969). The Colorado
squawfish is the largest cyprinid fish (minnow family) native to North America
and, during predevelopment times, may have grown as large as 6 feet in length
and weighed nearly 100 pounds (Behnke and Benson 1983). These large fish may
• have been 25-50 years of age.