GENERAL53820 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CFSI'K-CO-R Public Notice Number 199475346 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 temporary 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 regazding anti-degradation provision, please contact Mr. Farrow at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, telephone (303) 692-3575. A se<u-ch of the Colorado Cultural Resource Inventory indicated that there are no known cultu::•ai resources within the project azea. Since the operations take place instream within the floodplain, the Colorado Historical Society believes the present nature of the proposed project azea is such that further impact upon cultural resources will not occur. However, if previously unidentified archaeological resources are 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 (303) 866-4674 for further assistance. An activity mad not occur in a component of the National Wild and Scenic River System; or - - 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 ,4nimas 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, Pdo. 225 dated November 21, 1991) defines a NNL as an area of national significance, designated by the Secretary of the 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 comparison 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 azea 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. •