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1 <br />' and mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus). Stands of <br />Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) and shrubs occur at canyon edges <br />and on canyon slopes, which can occur on talus slopes with very <br />' coarse soil. <br />Fauna in the Ponderosa Pine-shrub thickets include cottontail, <br />' raccoon, skunk, prairie rattlesnake, and various birds. The <br />grassland will contain desert cottontail, ground squirrel, pocket <br />gopher, voles, skunks, badger, mule deer, coyote, pronghorn, and <br />' many birds. During the survey, herds of pronghorn and several <br />coyote were observed. <br />Soils on the mesa tops in the project area are classed as <br />' mollisoils or grassland soils (Larsen 1979: Map 30). Most soils <br />in the project area are in the Fondis-Kutch association. The <br />Fondis series are well-drained soils that formed in eolian soil <br />' materials and overlie coarser-textured materials from the arkosic <br />sedimentary rock. Soils on the uplands vary from gently sloping <br />soils (1 to 3~), to sloping soils (3 to 9~), to strongly sloping <br />(5 to 40~). These soils support grassland vegetation: <br />Soils along the mesa edges include stoney rough land or stoney <br />steep land (cold) {Larsen 1974:Map 30). The stoney rough land <br />' occurs along canyon edges and in intermittent drainages on slopes <br />of 5 to 90~. About 30 to 90~ of this land is covered with <br />rhyolite stone. The surface layer has a flaggy loam about 6 in. <br />thick, underlaid by flaggy to gravelly clay loam or sandy clay <br />' loam. Rhyolite occurs between 20 to 40 in. The stoney steep <br />land (cold) occurs on slopes 9 to 65'k, along steep-walled <br />drainages with cliffs 10 to 100 ft high. Soil is dark-colored, <br />' cobbly and stony sandy loam, underlain by cobbly and gravelly <br />sandy loam to clay loam. Shale or sandstone occurs at 20 to 90 <br />in. <br />' EXISTING DATA AND LITERATIIRE REVIEW <br />' FILES SEARCF3 <br />A cultural resources file search was conducted at the Office of <br />' Archaeology and Historic Preservation by Judi Halasi on January <br />12, 1995. There were no recorded sites in the project area and <br />no previous surveys have been conducted in the project area. <br /> <br /> <br />r, <br />II <br />1 <br />However, two large projects have revealed significant information <br />about the archaeological resources within several miles of the <br />project area. A total of 12 prehistoric sites, 2 historic sites, <br />and 6 isolated finds were recorded by the Colorado Highway <br />Department (tdartin 1979; Miller and Fiero 1977) in archaeological <br />surveys along State Highway 83 for the proposed Parker Road <br />expansion between State Highway 88 and Franktown. After <br />subsequent reevaluation and test excavations, five archaeological <br />9 <br />t <br />