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cs • scattered stands of aspen and juniper. Soils in the area are dominated by unstable residual and colluvial sandy looms underlain by sandstones of the Mesaverde Formation and beds of Mancos Shale complexly intertongued with the Mesaverde Formation on the lower slopes and mesas. Elevations of the proposed drill sites range from 7,050 to 7,640 feet (ca. 2,150-2,325 m). Game animals, particularly elk and deer are common in the area, and evidence of modern hunting activities is evident in the general project area. Stone materials suitable for prehistoric tool manufacture are extremely scarce in the immediate area and tend to be sharply visible in contrast to the generally sandy soils. Cultural resources that would be anticipated in this area would tend to be small, ephemeral sites, and intact deposition that might contain older cultural materials would be restricted to localized pockets of level, stable terrain. Vegetation is variable and responsive to local exposure and soil development. Characteristic communities are aspen woodland in protected settings, oak chaparral in open, exposed settings, and pine-juniper woodland on steep (especially north facing) slopes. There are also numerous small meadows in gently sloping or poorly drained areas. Generally, the undergrowth is open or patchy with extensive exposure of soil surface and bedrock outcrops. Oak and brush thickets may be locally dense, but tend not to be extensive. However, in wet, protected areas with deep sediment, the undergrowth in the aspen groves is often both high and thick, making these locations nearly impassable. Similarly, on slopes characterized by landslide, slump or mass wastage features, oak-serviceberry thickets are dense and nearly impassable. Edible and useful plant products are seasonally abundant, and all • these plant communities provide good forage and cover for game animals and black bear. Limiting factors for cultural settlement or use are ruggedness of access and availability of water. Existing Data and Literature Review Prior to fieldwork the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (OAHP) was contacted, on June 8, to obtain current information on previous cultural resource investigations and recorded cultural resource sites in the project area. The results of this files search for the legal sections containing the project areas were that two previous Class III inventories had been conducted in portions of these sections. These were a Forest Service survey of several proposed ponds and trails (Sanders 1982), and a previous MAC survey for exploratory drill holes in this same general area (Sp~th 1992). Since the files search MAC completed another small survey of three proposed core drilling pads in this same general project area (Sp~th 1993). MAC has also conducted several other small inventories in the West Elk Mountains (e.g., Metcalf 1987, 1989) and results have generally been negative. This project area is located in an area of effective overlap of the West-Central Colorado Prehistoric Context (Reed 1981) and the Colorado Mountains Prehistoric Context (Guthrie, et al., 1984). Neither study area has yielded evidence of frequent prehistoric use of the scrub oak vegetation zone during any of the prehistoric time periods. The earliest documented historic • ~