PERMFILE72863

• Permit No: M2000077
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Name: ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT MULE CREEK GRAVEL PIT
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

' Mule Creek Gravel environmental Assessment • Page 6
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1.6.3 Visual Impacts
t Visually, the site will change from its present appeazance. Currently, the azea has steep,
raw banks comprised of decomposed granite. At the top of the banks are mature stands
' of dense aspen, pine and fir. This will change as mining commences, with the removal of
the trees so the underlying material can be removed. During mining it will look like a
grave[ pit, with large machinery moving large amounts of material down towards the
' screening and loading azea. After mining, the hill will be graded to a slope of
approximately two (horizontal) to one (vertical) and reclaimed with grasses and
occasional stands of small trees. To obtain the required slopes, it will be necessary to
t mine past the existing ridge, lowering the horizon seen from the highway.
1.6.4 Noise
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or guests at
Noise was a concem both for the adjacent private property owners and
Mueller State Park. The pazk's camping sites are located on the top of a ridge that is
' between 0.5 and 1.0 mile from the gravel pit, and with the exception of trees, are
generally line-of--sight to the upper reaches of the mine. The park limits noise between
10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., and expressed concem about the noise generated by the mine.
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1.6.5 Air Quality
t Air quality (primarily dust) was also mentioned as a concern for adjacent properties, both
for nearby residences, employees and visitors to Mueller State Park, and for vehicles
' traveling Highway 67.
1.6.6 Water Quality and Quantity
' Comments regarding runoff from the disturbed site included both water quality and water
quantity. Water quality concerns focused on ensuring that sediment was trapped on-site
' and not be allowed to migrate into the wetland area downhill from the pit, or into the
unnamed tributary of Foutmile Creek. Water quantity was mentioned in conjunction
with runoff from rain events, and the need for detention ponds to store the water
' anticipated to runoff from rainstorms and release it to the stream at the same rate that it
left the site historically.
1 1.6.7 Impacts to Recreation
' Recreation was mentioned in connection with the cumulative effect of the pit -visual
impacts, noise and dust - on Mueller State Park. The park not only has camping sites that
are nearly line-of--sight to the proposed mine, but also has several trails that run along the
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' Hydrosphere Rcsource Consultants, 1002 Walnut Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302