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Section 780.16 (a) Continued. <br />Revised 11/20/80 <br />However, Robin Knox of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (telephone <br />number 825-1192, extension 339) on April 25, 1980, informed Kent <br />Crofts of Kerr Coal that since the Johnny darter was found to be <br />relatively abundant in North Park during the 1979 field season it <br />was likely the status of the Johnny darter would be lowered from a <br />"threatened" status to that of a "special concern" status. <br />Biologically the Johnny darter habitat in the Canadian and Illinois <br />Rivers cannot be considered to be of "unusually high value". <br />Propst and Corrarino (1974:4) report that the threatened status of <br />the Johnny darter "is partially a function of the paucity of knowl- <br />edge about its distribution and abundance". Propst and Corrarino <br />(1979:2) report that Johnny darters are considered "to be among the <br />most widely tolerant of the darters to a variety of habitats". <br />Propst and Corrarino (1979:43-46) report that although the 1978 <br />data are inconclusive, the most salient observation concerning <br />Johnny darters in Colorado was their restricted habitat. Johnny <br />darters were collected only in water 15 to 30 cm deep with almost <br />imperceptible flow over a cobble-gravel substrate. It was reported <br />that stream degradation caused by turbidity and siltation only <br />minimally affects this species. The most obvious threat to the <br />welfare of the Johnny darter is posed by long-term alteration of <br />flow patterns. <br />The potential adverse impacts of either the mining activities at <br />the Kerr Mine Area adjacent to the Canadian River or the coal <br />crushing operations at the Kerr Tipple adjacent to the Illinois <br />River to the populations of Johnny darters remains extremely remote <br />since neither siltation nor flow levels of waters leaving the <br />disturbed areas will alter those presently found in both Rivers. <br />I ~~ <br />780-51 bb <br />