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<br />• existing experimental test mine cooling/retention ponds. American Soda staff have <br />observed waterfowl using these ponds only once since their construction in 1997. <br />Seasonal and perennial aquatic habitats also exist along Parachute Creek. These <br />habitats also support migration-related use and some limited nesting by waterfowl. <br />The Colorado River, located a few miles south of the Parachute Site, provides the <br />closest significant open water and wetland habitats in the vicinity. <br />7.8 WETLAND AND RIPARIAN HABITATS <br />Piceance Creek is the only perennial stream associated with the Piceance Site. <br />Although the Piceance Site lies on the both sides of Piceance Creek, it does not <br />actually include Piceance Creek except in a few locations where angles of the <br />property extend across it (see Figure 1-2). Riparian habitats and wetlands along <br />Piceance Creek are dominated by grasses, sedges, and rushes, and scattered <br />sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and greasewood are present. The riparian areas along <br />Piceance Creek provide important foraging habitat for mule deer during their spring <br />and fall migrations. <br />There is no surface water in the Piceance Site except as occurs in the two existing <br />cooling/retention ponds and in ephemeral tributaries of Piceance Creek. Flows in <br />these ephemeral drainages are in response to rapid spring snowmelt or high- <br />. intensity late-summer thunderstorms (BLM 1982). No riparian habitat has <br />developed along these drainages. No other wetland types occur at the Piceance Site. <br />Riparian habitat and wetlands also occur along Piceance Creek at its second crossing <br />by the proposed pipeline corridor in T2S, R96W, Section 32. Wet meadow wetlands <br />dominated by sedges and grasses occur along this portion of Piceance Creek (CIG <br />1995). The riparian vegetation in this area is similar to the riparian habitat at the <br />first pipeline corridor crossing of Piceance Creek described above. <br />Wetlands are also located along a 0.8-mile reach of Stewart Gulch in T3S, R96W, <br />Section 9. These wetlands are created as a result of flows in Stewart Gulch and seeps <br />emerging from steep gully walls on either side of the gulch (CIG 1995). No other <br />wetlands or woody riparian areas exist along the remainder of the pipeline corridor <br />until it reaches Parachute Creek. Horse Draw, Hatch Gulch, Collins Gulch, and <br />other intermittent streams along the pipeline corridor are generally similar to one <br />another in having incised channels, floodplains dominated by sagebrush, and no <br />jurisdictional wetlands. <br />Riparian habitats along Parachute Creek include more mature hardwood trees (e.g., <br />cottonwoods and box elders) than the riparian habitats of Piceance Creek. These <br />riparian habitats occur along all of the tributaries of Parachute Creek and along the <br />mainstem of Parachute Creek where it is paralleled by the pipeline corridor. <br />C <br />American Soda, L.L.P. 7-40 <br />Commercial Mine Plan <br />August 18, 1996 <br />