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CULTURAL SURVEY FOR FIVE CORE HOLES FOR THE WEST ELK MINE DRY FORK EXPLORATION AREA ':.i:Y~iry+_'a L..,,-. '. ~!L. ..ztti?»'ottS~'"~+~.xs.3'.=.$..;,'d :. u,. ,..:U.,~..: ,: ,. _a ..._r.vVt ~:a.~e..;:.~ ~..m e.~m`a~m:;T .~. .Mi v::.ea:.i&n.":': INTRODUCTION As part of its ongoing mine expansion, Mountain Coal Company, West Elk Mine will be drilling five stratigraphic core holes (CCC, DDD, EEE, FFF, and 00) in the Dry Fork Exploration Area. Greystone conducted intensive. cultural resource inventories of five core hole locations and 800 feet of temporary access to core hole EEE. All but the latter proposed location will be accessed by existing, maintained, Forest Service roads. The proposed core holes will be located in Sections I, 2, and 12, T14S, R90W, Gunnison County. These locations are within the Gunnison National Forest and can be found on the USGS Minnesota Pass topographic quadrangle (Figure 1). Core holes are drilled with a small rig using a naturally level area or minimally prepared pad and surface disturbance is typically less than '/z acre. Previous locations were surveyed for care holes CCC and DDD. However, these two locations have been moved, and the new locations were surveyed as well. Locations CCC, DDD, and FFF are a short distance from Forest Service Road (FS) 711. Short lengths of access will need to be improved for these proposed drill locations. Location 00 is adjacent to FS 711-3B. Location EEE is about 1,100 feet west of FS 711-38, and a temporary access to this location will need to be improved. In accordance with policies and regulations implementing the National Historic Preservation Act (Public Law 89-665), as amended, the cultural resource inventory was completed to locate, identify, and evaluate any • cultural resources that might be affected by the proposed undertaking. The inventory was completed by Greystone archaeologist Carl Spath, PhD, on 28 July 2004 under the stipulations ofUS Forest Servrce Region 2 Special Use Permit # R97003. All field documentation, original records, and copies of this report aze on file at the Greystone office in Greenwood Village, Colorado. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT The drill locations are in mesa and canyon topography on the northwest foot of the West Elk Mountains approximately 5 miles south of the North Fork Gunnison River and 8 miles southeast ofthe town of Somerset. The proposed core holes are at the west edge of Coal Creek Mesa in the western foothills of the West Elk Mountains. Local topography is dominated by small mesas, steep-sided ridges, and deeply-incised drainages. Project elevations range from about 8,180 feet above mean sea level at the revised location for core hole CCC to 9,020 feet at the revised location for core hole DDD. The proposed core hole locations are relatively level. Nearby slopes are generally steep, often greater than 60 percent grade, and heavily overgrown with aspen and brush. Soils in the survey area are medium brown sandy clay loam with scattered sandstone cobbles and boulders and localized bedrock outcrops. Local bedrock is predominantly upper Cretaceous sandstone and shale of the Mesa Verde Group. Shale outcrops occur in the general azea, but none was observed at the drill locations or along the access. Soils are poorly consolidated and weakly developed in residual and colluvial sediments, and there are few small areas of accumulation. • 210-Dry Pork Core Holes Rpt_(8.I 1.04)