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The operator will be affecting 11.4 percent of the Terror Creek <br />watershed. This area and the adjacent Terror Creek were not <br />considered in the Division's original Alluvial Valley Floor <br />determination August 20, 1981, but were considered during the review <br />of the permit revision of June 20, 1985. The operator did not <br />identify any areas along Terror Creek that contain significant bodies <br />of alluvium. Most of the deposits are colluvial in nature and <br />confined to the immediate stream channel. The Morrell Camp area <br />contains primarily colluvial deposits and as such does not meet the <br />definition of Alluvial Valley Floors. <br />East and West Roatcap Creek were also not determined to be Alluvial <br />Valley Floors. The sediments are predominately colluvial in nature <br />and are too limited to support agricultural activities. <br />In reviewing the original application, some concerns were raised over <br />whether Cyprus proposed to use augmentation water that would normally <br />supply an AVF. Cyprus responded by showing that Terror Ditch and West <br />Reservoir waters supply Garvin Mesa and an irrigated area known as <br />"The Basin," both of which are out of the valley floor complex and are <br />not Alluvial Valley Floors. Therefore, Cyprus will. not be affecting <br />an AVF because of augmentation mitigation. <br />Alluvial Valley Floors - Findings <br />The applicant is eligible for exemption from the requirements of <br />Section 34-33-114(2)(e)(II) of C.R.S. 1973 by virtue of having a <br />permit issued before August 3, 1977. This permit was a License to <br />Mine, issued by the Colorado Division of Mines on December 14, 1976. <br />This was the primary permit required at the time by Colorado law to <br />operate an underground coal mine. The extent of this exemption must <br />be based.upon a demonstration of financial or regulatory commitment to <br />mine before August 3, 1977. In this case, mine maps submitted to the <br />Division of Mines and information in the permit application (see <br />"Ground Water Investigation of Steven's Gulch" in Volume 4) provide <br />the appropriate financial or regul:a'tory demonstration. Therefore, the <br />area identified as an Alluvial Valley Floor along the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison River are exempt from the requirements of Section <br />34-33-114(2)(e)(I>. The permit revision areas and the potential <br />Alluvial Valley Floor in adjacent Terror Creek are not covered by the <br />grandfather provision, and will be discussed separately. <br />Although exempted from Section 34-33-114(2)(e)(I), the applicant must <br />still comply with Section 34-33-120(2)(j)(VI) for all activities that <br />involve surface operations or surface impacts incident to the <br />underground portions of the mine. To demonstrate compliance, the <br />applicant must identify the essential hydrologic functions of an <br />Alluvial Valley Floor and submit a plan demonstrating that the <br />essential hydrologic functions can be preserved throughout mining or <br />restored after mining. <br />The essential hydrologic functions of the AVF along the North Fork of <br />the Gunnison are both flood irrigation and subirrigation. The lower <br />levels of this AVF are subirrigated naturally. Yet, the upper <br />-45- <br />