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concerned citizens who want to protect and preserve the last, and best bastion of large scale <br />traditional ranching and prime, landscape scale private wildlife habitat in the area. <br />The Proposed Gravel Pit Expansion ill Have Significant And Adverse Impacts <br />King Mountain's Permit Conversion Application should be denied because of the <br />significant and adverse impact the proposed expansion will have on wildlife, conservation and <br />property values, transportation and safety issues, water rights issues, and other aesthetic and <br />recreational concerns, <br />The statute under which you regulate mining activities states <br />_It is the further intent of the general assembly to conserve natural resources, <br />aid in the protection of wildlife and aquatic resources, establish agricultural, <br />recreational, residential, and industrial sites, and protect and promote the <br />health, safety, and general welfare'of the people of this state <br />Here, the former operation (before its transfer to King Mountain) was a small, thirty-year <br />old, family-owned and operated gravel pit that produced less than 1,000 tons of gravel annually. <br />The old Hewes annual reports to DMG typically didn't state what amount of material had been <br />extracted but only stated "very little material taken out" each yeaz. The special use permit <br />governing that small-scale operation was set to expire because the pemutted area was almost <br />exhausted. King Mountain intends to transform the gravel pit into a major regional mining <br />operation of up to 258 acres. Accordingly, the requested expansion and its obvious and <br />inevitable effects are and will be significant and detrimental. <br />a. Wildlife Concerns <br />The gravel pit is adjacent to the most important breeding azea for the soon to be <br />endangered Sage Grouse in an area of special concern, North Eagle County/South Routt County. <br />Indeed, the proposed expansion is of a very intense land use in close proximity to a significant <br />concentration of grouse. In fact, the world's leading Sage Grouse biologist, Clair Braun, <br />inspected the area iri 2005-and unequivocally determined-that the proposed gravel pit expansion <br />would be severely detrimental to the Sage Grouse. It is immediately adjacent to most critical <br />breeding areas in region and breeding success is the key factor in Grouse survival. As such, the <br />proposed expansion has potentially significant impacts to grouse populations and their habitats. <br />Although the U. S. Fish and Wildlife service has not yet listed the Sage Grouse as either <br />an endangered or a threatened species, the DOW has listed it as a "species of special concern," <br />(i.e., low or declining population), and the U. S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management <br />have identified the bird as a "sensitive species." It has been petitioned, and will be again next <br />yeaz, for Endangered Species protection. Furthermore, the State of Colorado has developed a <br />comprehensive statewide wildlife conservation plan (the "Wildlife Conservation Plan") to <br />protect the species, which plan includes regional and local conservation strategies, such as <br />