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~~~~~ Umversip~ June 4, 2001 Mike Savage Savage and Savage, ]nc. 464 West Sumac Court Louisville, CO 80027 Colorado Natural Heritage Program College of Natural Resources 259 General Services Fort Collins, Colordo 80523-6021 (970)991-1309 FAX: (970)491-3349 www.cnhp.colostate.edu Dear Mr. Savage: The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CTJHP) is in receipt of your request for information regarding the Oxbow Exploration project. ]n response, CNHY has searched its Biological and Conservation Datasy§tem (BCD) for natural heritage resources (occurrences of significant natural communities and rare, threatened or endangered plants and animals) documented from the vicinity of the project area in Gunnison and Delta Counties (T12S R90W S31, T12S R9] W 535, 36, T13S R90W S5, 6, 7, T13S R9] W S 1 and 12) per your request. The enclosed report describes natural heritage resources known from the area and gives location (by Township, Range, and Section), precision of the locational information, and the date of last observation at that location. Please note that "precision" reflects the resolution of original data. For example, an herbarium record from "4 miles east of Colorado Springs" provides much less spatial information than a topographic map showing the exact location of the occurrence. "Precision" codes of Second<_, Minutes, and General are defined in the report footer. The report also outlines the status of the known elements. We have included status according to Natural Heritage Program methodology and Legal status under state and federal statutes. Natural Heritage ranks are standardized across the Heritage Program network, and are assigned for global and state levels of rarity. They range from "1"for critically imperiled or extremely rare elements, to "5" for those that are demonstrably secure. There are two species of concern that occur downstream from the project site in the Gunnison River, Gila robusta (Roundtail Chub), G2 52, imperiled globally and Xyrauchen rexanus (Razorback Sucker), G1 Sl and federally listed as an Endangered Species. There is a CNHP designated Potential Conservation Area located in the section adjacent to your project area (see enclosed map and Site Record). In order to successfully protect populations or occurrences, it is necessary to delineate conservation areas. These conservation areas focus on capturing the ecological processes that are necessary to support the continued existence of a particular element of natural heritage significance. Conservation areas may include a single occurrence of a rare element or a suite of rare elements or significant features. The goal of the process is to identify a land area that can provide the habitat and ecological processes upon which a particular element or suite of elements depends for their continued existence. The best available knowledge of each species' life history is used in conjunction with information about topographic, geomorphic, and hydrologic features, vegetative cover, as well as current and potential land uses. Consideration of specific activities or land use changes proposed within or adjacent to the preliminary conservation planning boundary should be carefully considered and evaluated for their consequences to the element on which the conservation unit is based.