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STATE OF COLORADO "' """"•'•" •r~ Bill Owens, Governor 9s9 DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF WILDLIFE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER John W. Mumma, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80216 Telephone: 13031 297 1 192 West Region Service Center 711 Independent Ave. Grand Junctlon, CO 81505 (970)255-&100 Mr. Steven O'Brian Environment, Inc. 7985 Vance Drive, Suite 205A Arvada, CO 80003 Dear Mr. O'Brian, ~ECEIVEp AUG ,~ 3 1999 . ~ r Min6ray ~ ~e0'b9Y ~~~~~ For Wilt!life- Far People August 20, 1999 The Colorado Division of Wildlife has reviewed the information you provided on the Whitewater Building Materials Corp. permit extension for Pit 500. An on-site tour of the proposed extension area was conducted on August 17 with Mr. Ed Gacdner of Whitewater Building Materials. I also reviewed the comments submitted by the Division of Wildlife on the original plan for this mine in 1981. Those comments and recommendations are still valid and should be extended to cover the additional area. With regard to the permit extension, the 32-acre parcel located along the Gunnison River contains the highest wildlife values. Numerous mature cottonwoods are present in the southeast and northeast ends of the parcel, with a healthy willow community occurring in between along the irrigation ditch used to water the existing alfalfa field. Most of the cottonwoods lie within 100' of the Gunnison River or East Creek. We recommend allowing no disturbance of existing natural vegetation within 100' of the high water line of both those drainages. Mature cottonwoods located outside this buffer should also be preserved. We recommend that the willow community be maintained throughout the life of the mining operation. Weed control in the cottonwood/willow habitats should be limited to mechanical or chemical treatments proven not to be detrimental to shrubs. We noted no significant wildlife impacts related to development of the extension parcels located west of Whitewater and north of the Gunnison River. We do recommend that the few existing native trees be preserved in those areas. Development of the 10.63 acre parcel may result in realignment of the Coffman ditch. We recommend that the riparian habitat impacted by that action be recreated at a disturbed/recreated ratio of 1:1.5 along the new ditch. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Grey Watcher, F~recuGve Director WILDLIFE COMMISSION, Chuck Lewis, Chairman • Mark Le Valley, Vice-Chairman • Bernard L. Black Jr., Secretary Rick Enstrom, Member •,Philip James Member • Marianna Raftopoulos, Member Artwld Salaur, Member • Bob Shoemaker, Member