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Environmental Assessment Bowie Resources, L L.C. <br />' Aug ust 2005 Spruce Stomp Fedeml Coal Explomtion License (150-200543) <br />3.4.2 Cultural Resources <br />No heritage resources occur in the project area of potential affect; therefore, approval of the <br />Proposed Action will not result in an incremental increase of impacts to heritage resources. <br />Further, if any heritage resources were found during project implementation, all activities would <br />cease until the resources had been documented and clearance granted by the Forest <br />Archaeologist. <br />3.4.3 Water Resources <br />Approval of the Proposed Action could result in impacts to water resources in the form of <br />temporarily decreased flows through authorized extraction from the West and East Forks of <br />Terror Creek, possible degradation of water quality through discharges or spills into the West <br />and East Forks of Terror Creek, and temporary groundwater extraction from the Quaternary <br />Alluvium and/or Mesaverde aquifers. <br />Six cubic feet per second (2,692.8 gpm) of water is diverted from Terror Creek into a <br />ditch owned by the Company. This water is divided into 200 shares, of which 7 are owned by <br />Bowie. These 7 shares translate to approximately 48.98 acre feet of water per usage year (July, <br />August, September and October). <br />' The Company depends on natural flows from the Terror Creek drainage to be of sufficient <br />quantity to meet annual demand. When the natural flows are not adequate, water is released <br />from Terror Creek Reservoir to augment flow. <br />Bowie proposes to pump 2.2 acre feet of water (5 gpm for 100 days) from Terror Creek upstream <br />of the diversion. To compensate for this upstream usage, Bowie will abstain from taking their <br />allotted water from the Terror Creek ditch for 5.3 days during the normal usage year. This 2.2 <br />acre feet of water is equal to Bowie's 7 -share allocation during a 5.3 day period. Implementation <br />of the Proposed Action, or the No Action Alternative, will not result in a net increase in water <br />use from Terror Creek, and therefore, will not result in cumulative adverse impacts on surface <br />water quantity. <br />Discharges or spills into the West and East Forks of Terror Creek and Terror Creek from the <br />Proposed Action, in association with potential impacts from grazing, could have the potential to <br />degrade surface water quality in the project area. However, with implementation of Bowie's <br />proposed spill control measures, the Proposed Action will not contribute to the cumulative <br />degradation of surface water quality. <br />Groundwater withdrawal for the Proposed Action could reach 220,000 gallons (0.7 acre feet) of <br />formation water. Additional activities that could contribute to cumulative impacts on <br />groundwater withdrawal include two gas exploration and testing wells that are proposed in the <br />Terror Creek watershed, and two gas exploration and testing wells that are proposed in the <br />Hubbard Creek watershed (USFS 2003). Due to the temporary nature of the exploration <br />activities, this amount of groundwater withdrawal is not considered significant, and would not <br />result in adverse cumulative impacts to groundwater quality or quantity. <br />3-48 <br />