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~~ i i 1 , <br />i C,~E =-/ ~~l ~~' <br />711 Il~rtmm~ IG>,nd <br />Glrf~, CII n1~21-M17l9 <br />March 30, 2006 <br />~~ ~ Colorado Division of Minerals & Geology `~ <br />Durango Field Office <br />701 Camino del Rio, Room 125 <br />Dwango, Colorado 81301 <br />Attention: Wallace H. Erickson ~ ~% <br />Subject: Ilindmazsh Sandstone -- Adequacy Issues <br />112 Application No. M 2006-004 ~. <br />Deaz Mr. Erickson: <br />dconaer(o)aobrainstorm.net <br />Ph: (970) 565-8394 <br />[Voice -Fax -Message] <br /> <br />AAA ~ ~ 'Or;o <br />Dilrarz;'y ,~., <br />The following response to your Adequacy Issues has been prepared in consultation with the applicant, and <br />corresponds with the same numbers in your list. <br />1. Topsoil, although existing on the site in shallow depths of small pockets and thin ridges, is essentially <br />impractical to salvage with normal construction equipment. In the process of cleazing the native and <br />second growth vegetation the grassy and brushy species will be incorporated into whatever soil can be <br />removed with convention earthmoving equipment, i.e., bulldozers and frontloaders. Large brush and trees <br />will be burned on the site. Whatever little expected soil to be salvaged will also incorporate a good deal of <br />the loose surface rock - an unavoidable result of removing such shallow soils so close to the bedrock. All <br />soils that can be removed with conventional equipment shall be savaged. In places there may be a <br />foot or more, in others less than a few inches or baze exposed bedrock. No estimate of the expected <br />volume can be made, however. Any such soils salvaged shall be truck-hauled to the southwest comer of <br />the site, just east of the access road's entry into the mining azea, where they -will be stockpiled and <br />stabilized until utilized for soil replacement in the extracted pit floor after the final bench extraction. <br />I would direct you to Section 3.1.9(6) which states, "If in the discretion of the Board or Office, such <br />existent topsoil is of insutfrcient quantity or poor quality for sustaining vegetation, and if other <br />materials can be shown to be more suitable for vegetation requirements, then the Operator shall remove, <br />segregate, and preserve in a like manner such other materials which are best able to support <br />vegetation." <br />In this case, a fine residual material left over from the extraction and processing operations shall be left <br />behind following all activity in the pit floor. Except for humus, such fine materials contain the essential <br />elements of rock erosion which makes up most of the soils in this region and has proven to be capable of <br />supporting rangeland vegetation in the many abandoned un-reclaimed sandstone quarry sites of the region. <br />This site, including the previously quarried North and Southeast portions, are typical examples of this <br />assertion, and at that, without a conscious effort at affecting re-vegetation. The combination of topsoiling <br />File: C/MeseSS /AdegResp <br />