GENERAL50923

• Permit No: M1987044
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 3/13/1996
• Doc Name: PUBLIC NOTICE
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

CESPK-CO-R Public Notice Number 199475348
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also reviews each project with
respect to the anti-degradation provision in state regulations. For the project which is the
subject of this public notice, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment,
Water Quality Control Division, has preliminarily determined this project will cause only
temporazy changes in water quality. The Water Quality Control Division solicits
information which may lead them to conclude that the water quality impacts from these
projects may be more than temporary, and therefore, may violate the antidegradation
provisions of the water quality standazds. For further information regarding anti-degradation
provision, please contact Mr. Fazrow at the Colorado Depaztment of Public Health and
Environment, telephone [phone].
A search of the Colorado Cultural Resource Inventory indicated that there aze not any
known cultural resources within the project area. Since the operations take place instream
within the floodplain, the Colorado Historical Society believes the present nature of the
proposed project area is such that no further impact upon cultural resources will occur.
However, if previously unidentified azchaeological resources aze discovered in the course of
the project, work must be interrupted until the resources are properly evaluated in terms of
the National Register of Historic Places eligibility criteria (36 CFR 60.4) in consultation
with the Corps of Engineers and the State Historic Preservation Office. Mr. Jim Green with
the Colorado Historic Society can be contacted at telephone [phone] for further
assistance.
An activity may not occur in a component of the National Wild and Scenic River System; or
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in a river officially designated by Congress as a study river for possible inclusion m the
system, while the river is in an official study status. Coordination with the National Park
Service and U.S. Forest Service revealed that the Animas River was not found to be eligible
based on initial studies performed in 1983. Therefore, the Animas River is neither a
component of the National Wild and Scenic River System nor is it in an official study status.
The Animas River Valley between Durango and the Town of Silverton has been identified as
a potential National Natural Landmark (NNL). The Federal Register proposed rule (Vol.
56, NO. 225 dated November 21, 1991) defines a NNL as an area of national significance,
designated by the Secretary of Interior, that contains an outstanding representative
example(s) of the nation's natural heritage, and that is located within the boundaries of the
United States or its Territories or on the Outer Continental Shelf. NNLs aze nationally
significant, accurate, and essentially unspoiled examples of types of biotic communities or
geologic features. The Animas River Valley was identified as a potential NNL based on its
outstanding geological and ecological features on an initial companson with other azeas in
the natural region. It serves as a corridor through which riparian plant communities of high
elevations move to lower ecoregions. A final rule has not been issued on NNLs and the
Animas River Valley is still currently classified as a potential NNL site due to a moratorium
placed on evaluation, nomination, and designation of new sites for NNL status in November
1989. Although this area appears to merit further study, potential impacts associated with
the project must be reviewed to determine if the project would significantly change, lose, or
destroy existing values which originally qualified it for consideration.
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