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special status plant species that have potential to occur in the mountain brush zone in <br />this area. <br />Culturally the area was utilized for many thousands of years. Prehistoric and historic <br />Native American use consisted of hunting, gathering, and related processing. Historic, <br />Euro-American use consisted of small scale farming, ranching, and mining. Previous <br />cultural resource inventories adjacent to the study tract have generally shown that <br />prehistoric sites are ephemeral in nature consisting of small nuclear family, temporary <br />camps, and Euro-American sites are either homesteads or sites affiliated with coal <br />production. <br />A review of the cultural resources data base indicates that one inventory has been <br />conducted in the study tract, an unidentified linear survey along the drainage beginning in <br />the eastern end of Lot 12, Section 1., T13S, R90W. That survey followed the drainage <br />east and south into Sections 6 and 7, T13S, R89W. No sites were located. Several <br />other inventories have been conducted to the west and south of the study tract, including <br />south of the Gunnison River. These inventories conducted between 1977 and 1994, <br />identified only a couple of small ephemeral sites. Due to the unsuitable nature of the <br />environment and steep terrain sites are not expected to be found in the study tract. If <br />found they would likely be small, prehistoric, limited-activity sites. <br />The area is in the Gunnison River Drainage, which is part of the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin, and is comprised of semiarid watersheds at the lower elevations and forested- <br />mountain watersheds at the higher elevations. There are no springs, stockponds or <br />streams on the modification or R/W areas. However, the Gunnison River is a quarter <br />mile to the south and Thompson Creek, an intermittent stream, is a quarter mile to the <br />east. The Sanborn Mine plan shows that the upper reaches of a tributary to Thompson <br />Creek will be undermined. Thompson Creek will be monitored to establish its flow <br />character during 1996. There are approximately 1,200 feet of overburden over <br />Thompson Creek. <br />Between 1980 and 1990, Delta County experienced changes in its population. The 1980 <br />population was 21,225 and the 1985 population was 23,466. The 1990 census puts the <br />population at 20,980, a decrease of one percent over the 1980 population count. See <br />Table 1 for the population of towns in Delta County. The Colorado Division of Local <br />Government has made population projections for the period 1990-2015. Delta County is <br />projected to have a population of 22,280 by 2015 or a 6.2 percent increase over 1990. <br />Employment for Delta County increased from 7,600 in 1989 to 8,124 in 1990 or a 7 <br />percent increase according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Mining <br />employment was 345 in 1980 and dropped to 98 by 1989, a 72 percent decrease. In , <br />1989 mining employment represented one percent of the county's employment. Mining <br />earnings were 10.8 million in 1980 and decreased to 4.6 million by 1989. Mining <br />earnings represented 13 percent of non farm earnings in 1980 and 4 percent of non farm <br />earnings in 1989. <br />7 <br />