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i ~ III IIIIIIIIIIIII III <br />700 s 2ru1 St. , `20 <br />Cortez, CO 81321 <br />(j~~~;~, r+pril 8, 2001Re~,eiVed <br />Tom Ci1Lis PU ~ ~'l~~li <br />:.iced Land ~~ecelamation 3oard ,C wS~~~' ~~~~1`e r IQP ~ <br />Durango ,CO ,~ 3CC,• ~J,ZOO/ ~0~~ R ~ ~ ~~~ <br />Dear Tom, bJT~ f~ri+,p /~ ,C O~bgo~~e~eaOHioe <br />ThanJcs for alirays being patient and helpful. I must, hor:ever, obect stron;lg GB0~09y <br />to the amended version of the Lire Camp !application. <br />I:y objections are in general and in particular, about flooding. It is not <br />true that gravel pits allow arty mitigation of floodwaters. Such a statement <br />is deceptive because once these pits are reclaimed as ponds, the ponds are <br />full of grater and offer no home for more v:ater should the river flood. On <br />the contrary, the river frill have lost more of its floodplain, the function <br />of which is to absorb floodwaters. In general, the more gravel pits are <br />allowed-arid 11 ponds are now projected for a on..-mile stretch of river-- <br />the greater the chances that ucakered sediments and vanished trees gill let <br />the river move to capture a pit and charue its entire channel. In fact vritliin <br />a few feet of the projected Lire Camp Pit location, the entire river ciianrel <br />shifted overnight by 60 feet. This lrappened in 1995. <br />The Dolores itiver drops 32 feet per wile bet::een iZico and Dolores and is a <br />irioh-powered stream. Photographs shoir that it has moved 'requently; you can <br />see oxbow cut-offs on both Truceson's and Akin's properties that are relatively <br />recent. .ietween 1911 and 1995, the Dolores has flooded 11 times. I•lore floods <br />can therefore be guaranteed. It is a powerful, gravelbed stream Hour with <br />a loin-sinuosity chancel, that likes to shift and braid..+ 100-year flood trill <br />put it 4 ft above bankfull. ,3ut if it shifts upstream from the toti:n of Dolores, <br />it could revert to its old chanrel through to.n Gnu run 15-19 iaet down <br />I:ain Street. On these general grounds, I heartily object to furthering vreak- <br />ening of 'the floodplain upstream from toi:n. <br />In particular, the Line Camp Plan is da~agerous to neighbors. The 'oexms to <br />be left across the antire south end and along part of the river Front are a <br />threat to ref„hbors. Sven vrith gaps, they still brill function es partial <br />dams. :he berm alor><; the ril6er is positioned exactly to deflect crater toward <br />Jack Akins' Herr house. The beam across the end of the pit area frill act as <br />a partial dam. rater vrill rise in time of flood, but because the berm is <br />made only of waste fines, the ver^,/ easiest sediments to be moved by ester, <br />it vrill break and send a flash florid right dorm on top of the :.obinson"s house. <br />The fact that the whole pit area frill end up 4 £eet below origir~l grade is <br />a bad thing :.lso, for in cane of arl;~ flood Ut all, that big ai.:a of low ;round <br />brill encoura,;e the ricer to wake a net: channel over where it used to run, <br />near .:obinson's. This is all bad, bad stuff. It should bo stopped. <br />i:oreover, I .;ou1d like to •.rarn you that all the projected waste piles for the <br />perimeter of the I:oenig pit also could deflect flood •.:aters to the far side <br />of the river, and thus right onto all the houses built just doc•7natream. Tlce <br />Dolores Giver Talley is no place to be minim;; gravel, period. I •.rill fight <br />with my •.:hole heart to stop it. <br />,.~ce,,sf~ectfully ~~ <br />// (4a'i ~L ~ 29sL <br />I Iarily~7oynt <br />