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Do not excavate below existing elevation of low flow river channel without consultation <br />with and approval from USACE. [Note: the existing low flow river channel has <br />generally been taken to mean the thalweg when the permits were written and signed, <br />roughly in late 1996; the thalweg is the Lowest point, or invert, of the lowest channel in a <br />cross section perpendiculaz to the channel belt.] <br />None of the operators has complied fully with these conditions and any later modifications that <br />USACE explicitly approved. The operators ignored some data reporting requirements during the <br />first yeaz and then continued similar practices. Unfortunately, USACE never responded to <br />reporting or mining violations. Whether USACE has therefore implicitly approved the <br />operators' practices is a subject for debate. However, the permit requirements aze cleaz, so I <br />believe that the operators are responsible for full compliance. Recently, USACE has asked the <br />operators for additional information to support their extension requests. <br />This report presents a selective review of in-stream mining activities that are relevant to my <br />training in general geology and geomorphology. It omits some issues, such.as extraction <br />volumes and bank stabilization or mining, and it does not address many other regulations with <br />which the operators maybe in compliance, such as those concerning water quality and use, <br />related on-site activities, or reclamation bonding. In the following sections, individual pits are <br />discussed in upstream-to-downstream order, with one exception: the Dalton Pit precedes the <br />Hermosa Meadows Pit because more data are available for the first. <br />3.0 BAR-D PIT <br />3.1 Operators <br />• Burnett Constmction, Inc. (later renamed Durango Constmction, Inc.) from before 1996 <br />to about March, 2003 <br />• Oldcastle SW Group, Inc., dba Four Comers Materials, bought the pit in 1999 and began <br />operating it in about March, 2003 (specific dates not in USACE files) <br />3.2 Changes to Permit Special Conditions <br />Proposed O~erating_and Monitorinc Plan <br />Operating and monitoring plans for this pit are contained in "A Sustainable Streambed Harvest <br />Plan for the Bar-D Site" (Sugnet & Associates, 1996). This report was submitted in August of <br />1996, before USACE finalized the text of the permit. The report states: <br />• Thirteen cross sections at the required spacing were surveyed in 7anuary, 1996 to provide <br />thalweg datum elevations. <br />• These sections will be surveyed twice per year (text) or "annually" (Appendix B). <br />• Two off-site sections will be established approximately one mile upstream and <br />downstream from the pit (Appendix B; context implies same surveying frequency). <br />• Longitudinal profiles will also be provided (context implies same frequency). <br />Gillam to Hellige, Nov. 28, 2003 page 3 <br />