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Soils <br />Additional soils related information is found in Tabs 9 and 19 of the permit application. <br />Specific findings are described i^ Section B, Item IV of this document. <br />Soil surveys by the Soil Conservation Service, prior to construction of the loadout, and by <br />a consultant to the applicant in 1992 show that soils in the Dry Creek area tend to be clays <br />grading to loams. Elevated levels of sodicity and alkalinity are not uncommon in these soils. <br />Due to these factors, some of the soils in the permit azea have limited utility for salvage and <br />use in reclamation. <br />Suitable topsoils were stripped prior to construction of the loadout in 1978 and 1978. In the <br />event that further disturbance of the site were to occur, appropriate topsoil will be salvaged. <br />Clima e <br />More detailed climatic information can be found in Tab 8 of the permit application. <br />The region is characterized by a semi-arid steppe climatic regime with cold winters and mild <br />to cool summers. The prevailing wind is from the northwest (reversing at night due to <br />southeasterly upslope winds). Average annual precipitation is 16 inches and the growing <br />season in the region is approximately 94 days. Climatic information was collected from both <br />Hayden Station, one mile distant, and the Seneca II-W Mine, six miles south of the loadout. <br />Surface Water Hydroloev <br />Surface water information is found in the following portions of the permit application: Tabs <br />7, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and Exhibits 12-2, 12-3, and 12-4. A summary of this information <br />is included here, below in the Description of the Operations Plan and in Section B, Item III <br />of this document. <br />Most of the permit area is drained by Dry Creek. A small, northerly portion of the railroad <br />loop drains directly into the Yampa River; which Dry Creek also drains into near the town <br />of Hayden. Stokes Gulch, an intermittent stream, flows into Dry Creek just south of the rail <br />loadout. <br />Precipitation averages 16 inches annually on the property and runoff is limited; flows in the <br />two drainages being mainly in response to snow melt or intense thunderstorm events. Flows <br />in Dry Creek have ranged from 0 - 126 cfs (cubic feet per second) upstream of the loadout <br />to from 0 - 225 cfs downstream. Two sediment ponds exist to handle runoff at the loadout. <br />The Truck Loop Pond usually dischazges during spring snowmelt and the Rail Loop Pond <br />has rarely discharged in its history. <br />Stream flow generally increases downstream along Dry Creek in the vicinity of the loadout, <br />however sections of the stream may be ephemeral. Diversions of water from Dry Creek <br />above the permit area during the growing season can significantly reduce and even <br />