2006-12-18_REVISION - M1978314 (3)

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King Mountain Sand and Gravel Mine Ecological Resources Assessment Page 3 3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND SETTING 3.1 Location/Acreage The Project is located five miles west of Toponas, Colorado. The Project is located in a portion of Section 14 Township 1 North, Range 85 West, of the 6th P.M. (Figures 2 and 3). The site is accessed from Colorado Highway 131 at Toponas via County Roads 5 and 3 (Figure 2). 3.2 Geographic and Land Use Setting The Project site is located in southern Routt County in a broad valley between the Flat Top mountains to the west, and the Gore Range to the east (Figures 1 and 2). The property is located in the central portion of the Southern Rocky Mountains physiographic province (USDI Geological Survey 2006a). Transportation infrastructure includes County Road 5 running through the southern portion of the property, and County Road 3 running through the central portion and west boundary of the site (Figure 3). County Road 3 continues to the north and meets Colorado Highway 131 a[ Trapper three miles to the north of the Project site. Toponas and Trapper are small, unincorporated areas with few residents. The nearest town of significant size is Yampa, population 359. The valley bottom is mostly private ranch land still held in lazge pazcels, and there are some Bureau of land Management parcels in the valley bottom south of Egeria Creek. Some rural residential development has taken place on Five Pine Mesa to the northwest, and a few other scattered areas throughout the valley, but the area still retains a predominately rural setting. The local economy is driven by traditional agricultural uses, tourism and recreation, and real estate investment, including second home development. Colorado Highway 131 is the primary transportation corridor between the Interstate Highway 70 corridor in the Eagle River Valley 24 miles to the south, and the Steamboat Springs area 28 miles to the north. The Project site has a residence on the south side of County Road 5, two modular structures, and assorted agricultural outbuildings. County roads, utility lines and irrigation conveyance structures represent most of the other existing improvements on the Project site. The property was part of a larger ranch owned by Frank Hewes dating back to the 1950's. It was purchased by King Mountain Gravel, LLC approximately three yeazs ago. 3.3 Environmental Setting The Property is in the northwest portion of [he Northern Parks and Ranges ecoregional section within the Southern Rocky Mountains Ecoregion (Neely et al. 2001). The Property lies within the montane ecological zone, transitional between low elevation foothills ecosystems, and high altitude subalpine ecosystems. The property includes Egeria Creek and its floodplain south of County Road 5 (Photo Points NL I-3). Most of [he property is asleep-sided, 200' tall river terrace with the higher portions comprised of Quaternary gravels (Photo Point NL 2). The top of the terrace is relatively flat, and slopes gently from west downhill to the east (Photo Points MF 1, 3-5). The eastern side of the terrace is cut by three relatively shallow drainages (Photo Points NL 4 and 5), with the Central Drainage having a small pond (Photo Point MF 2).