PERMFILE50018

• Permit No: C1981038A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 8/16/2004
• Section_Exhibit Name: Archaeology Appendix
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

The survey area lies in a north-south transect north of the town of Paonia that consists •
ofeast-facing talus slopes and terrace remnants that form the western flanks of Tenor Creek.
The northern end of the project area includes a portion of the canyon bottom of the West Fork
of Terror Creek. Elevations in the study area range from 6840 feet at the extreme southern
end of the project to 8760 feet at the rim of the ridge top that forms the western edge of the
transect. The area is nearly all covered in Transitional Zone brush including oakbrush,
servicebeny, and chokecherry. Other plant communities occur in the study area, although in
much smaller acreages and usually mixed with the brush, including pinyonruniper forest, fir
and aspen forest, riparian woodland, and grassland meadows. The region supports numerous
wildlife species including elk, deer, coyote, black bear, bobcat, ground squirrels, rabbits, and
various raptors.
Climatically, the yeazly average temperature is 38 degrees F., and there is a maximum
of l00 frost-free days in a yeaz. Annual precipitation is about 16 to 20 inches (USDA SCS
1976). Paleoenvironmental data for the area are scant, but it is agreed that gross climatic
conditions have remained fairly constant over the last 12,000 years. However, changes in
effective moisture and cooling/warming trends undoubtedly affected the prehistoric
occupation of the area. Prehistoric land use was primarily hunting and gathering, which had
little or no adverse affect on the local environment. Present day land use includes cattle
grazing, hunting, and coal mining development.
Summary of Files Search
Files searches were made through the Uncompahgre Field Office of the BLM and the
Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation of the Colorado Historical Society. These
indicated that five surveys had been conducted in the area, which were mainly concerned
with roads and drill holes related to mining development (see Table 1). Three historic sites
and one prehistoric isolated fmd were recorded during these surveys (see Table 2). Of these,
one of the sites, SDT96, an historic habitation site in the bottom of the canyon of the West
Fork of Terror Creek, was officially field evaluated as eligible for inclusion on the NRHP.
The other resources were considered non-eligible.
Regional archaeological studies suggest nearly continuous human occupation ofwest-
central Colorado for the past 12,000 years. Evidence of the Paleoindian Era, the Archaic Era,
Formative Era, and Protohistoric Era has been found in the area. An overview of the
prehistory is provided in a new document published by the Colorado Council of Professional
Archaeologists' entitled Colorado Prehistory: A Context for the Northern Colorado Plateau
(Reed and Metcalf 1999).
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Historic records suggest occupation or use of the region by EuroAmerican explorers,
trappers, settlers, miners, and ranchers. Significantly, the Spanish expedition of Dominguez
and Escalante, which passed neaz the study area along Hubbard Creek in 1776, was the first •