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CESPK-CO-R The applicant has requested water quality certification from the State of Colorado, Department of Public Health and Environment in accordance with Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Written comments on water quality certification should be submitted to Mr. John Farrow, Planning and Standazds Section, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, Colorado, 80222-1530, on or before April 15, 1996. The Colorado Depaztment of Public Health and Environment also reviews each project with respect to the anti-degradation provision in state regulations. For the project which is the subject of this public notice, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division, has preliminarily determined this project will cause only temporary changes in water quality. The Water Quality Control Division solicits information which may lead them to conclude that the water quality impacts from These projects may be more than temporary, and therefore, may violate the antidegradation provisions of the water quality standazds. For further information regarding anti-degradation provision, please contact Mr. Farrow at the Colorado Depaztment of Health, telephone (303) 692-3575. A search of the Colorado Cultural Resource Inventory indicated that there aze no }:sown cultural resources within the project area. Since the operations take place instrearr~ within the floodplain, the Colorado Historical Society believes the present nature of the proposed project azea is such that no further impact upon cultural resources will occur. However, if previously unidentified archaeological resources are discovered in the course of the: project, work must be interrupted until the resources are properly evaluated in terms of the: National Register of Historic Places eligibility criteria (36 CFR 60.4) in consultation with ttce Corps of Engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office. Mr. Jim Green with the Colorado Historical Society can be contacted at telephone (303) 866-4674 for further assistarcce. An activity may not occur in a component of the National Wild and Scenic River ,system; or in a river officially designated by Congress as a "study river" for possible inclusion rn the system, while the river is in an official study status. Coordination with the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service revealed that the Animas River was not found to be eligible based on initial studies performed in 1983. Therefore, the Animas River is neither a component of the National Wild and Scenic River System nor is it in an official study status. The Animas River Valley between Durango and the Town of Silverton has been identified as a potential National Natural Landmark (NNL). The Federal Register proposed rule (Vol. 56, No. 225 dated November 21, 1991) defines a NNL as an azea of national significance, designated by the Secretary of Interior, that contains an outstanding representative example(s) of the nation's natural heritage, and that is located within the boundaric;s of the United States or its Territories or on the Outer Continental Shelf. NNLs aze nationally significant, accurate, and essentially unspoiled examples of types of biotic communities or geologic features. The Animas River Valley was identified as a potential NNL based on its outstanding geological and ecological features on an initial companson with other areas in the natural region. It serves as a corridor through which faunistic riparian communities of high elevations move to lower ecoregions. 5