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r STATE OF COLORADO <br />Roy Romer, Governor <br />~ DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES <br />•1 <br />• DIVISION OF WILDLIFE <br />- AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER <br />Perry D. Olson, Director <br />6060 Broadway <br />Denver, Coloratlo 80216 <br />Telephone: (303) 297.1192 <br />711 Independent Avenue <br />Grand Junction, CO. 81505 <br />February 10, 1993 <br />Kent A. Gorham <br />Division of Minerals and Geology <br />215 Centennial Building <br />1313 Sherman Street <br />Denver, Co. 80203 <br />Dear Kent: <br />pp ~' ° `~ ~ r - { For Wildl{'je- <br />f~~~' 1 For People <br />FEB 2 21993 <br />MINERALS v'~. vcl'•i! `?`:• <br />I have reviewed with other members of our staff the <br />responses of Terrell Johnson to your adequacy review of 11-18-92. <br />I will comment on each item as it is numbered in your letter. , <br />1. We agree with the DMG's position on the land ownership <br />issue. We do not consider land ownership when making reclamation <br />or mitigation recommendations. <br />2. We do not dispute that elk use the reclaimed area but it <br />is not as valuable to elk as it once was. we have reclassified <br />the mine site from critical habitat to winter range because of <br />the alterations due to mining. It is no longer considered <br />critical because of the changes in elk use. It is true that elk <br />populations in this area have not declined but elk populations <br />across the state have increased substantially due to DOW's <br />management practices. <br />3. CYVCC did not provide answers to the issues raised in <br />item 3 of the adequacy review and they are relevant to this <br />request for permit revision. The DOW did have concerns with TR-17 <br />and requested that CYVCC be required to plant additional shrubs <br />in the portion of the mine not covered by the revision. However, <br />we did not make a big deal of that revision because of the <br />questions regarding how the land was originally mapped and <br />because we were confident that additional land use changes would <br />not be requested. <br />4. We are concerned with land management measures that CYVCC <br />will use post bond release. In recent discussions there have been <br />insinuations that they would take actions after bond release to <br />remove any shrubs that may have become established anyway. We <br />would view this action very seriously and would take appropriate <br />actions were it to occur. <br />5. The status of the Little Middle Creek tract is not <br />considered to be a relevant issue at this time. <br />DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Kenneth Salazar. Executive Director <br />WILDLIFE COMMISSION, William R. Hegbe rg, Member Eldon W. Cooper, Member Felix Chavez, Member Rebecca L. Frank, Member <br />Louis F. Swift. Secretary George VanDenBerg, Chairman Arnold Salazar, Member Thomas M. Eve, Vice Chairman <br />