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DescriQtion of the Environment <br />The present Sanborn Creek Mine consists of 92.3 acres of surface disturbed land and 5,693 acres <br />of land which has been or will be undermined and may potentially be affected by mining in the <br />North Fork of the Gunnison River (North Fork) drainage basin. (See Map ES-3306, Sheets 1 and <br />2 For the location of the Sanbom Creek Mine. See Maps 5-006, S-007B, and 5-007C for the <br />location of the Sanborn Creek Tract.) <br />The permit area consists of 9,047 acres. The surface lands within the permit azea include 3,553 <br />acres owned by Oxbow Mining, Inc. and 5,494 acres of federally owned lands (USFS and BLM). <br />The coal reserve owners include Oxbow Mining, Inc., other private entities and federal agencies. <br />Surface facilities are located in the Elk Creek, Bear Creek, Hubbard Creek and Sanbom Creek <br />drainages on the north side of the North Fork (Figure 1). Mining areas include workings under <br />the Hubbard, Elk, Bear Creek and Coal Gulch drainages. Proposed workings in the Sanbom <br />Creek East Tract will undermine A, B, C and Hoopla Gulches, Bardine Canyon, Hawk's Nest <br />Creek and an unnamed tributary of Thompson Creek. Hubbard Creek is a perennial tributary of <br />the North Fork and provides both domestic and agricultural supplies of water. Bear Creek, Elk <br />Creek and Sanbom Creek are intermittent streams. Coal Gulch, the unnamed drainage, A, B and <br />C Gulches, Hawk's Nest Creek, Hoopla Gulch, Bardine Canyon and Thompson Creek are all <br />ephemeral drainages that flow to the North Fork. <br />The North Fork River Basin is a highly developed water supply which provides agricultural <br />water [o the fruit-growing region of the North Fork Valley. The North Fork River enters [he <br />main stem of the Gunnison River approximately 30 miles southwest of the Somerset Mine. The <br />drainage basin of the North Fork is mountainous, bounded to the west by the Raggeds, the Ruby <br />Range, to the east by the Huntsman Ridge, to the South by the West Elk Mountains, and to the <br />North by Grand Mesa. Elevations in the basin range from 13,058 feet atop Mt. Owen in the <br />Ruby Range, to 5,100 feet at the confluence of the North Fork with the Gunnison River. The <br />town of Somerset, Colorado, immediately adjacent to the Somerset Mine site, is at an elevation <br />of 6,045 feet. <br />Ground reconnaissance during 1978, 1979 and 1980 identified Elk No. 1 Spring as the one <br />location with ground water surfacing within the original Somerset permit area, with a flow rate of <br />less than one gallon per minute. It is concluded that there is no large ground water reservoir in <br />the azea. <br />Western Slope Carbon identified and monitored 1 1 springs within or adjacent to the Sanbom <br />East Tract. Monitoring records aze available From 1983 through 1987. Somerset Mining <br />Company, now Oxbow Mining, Inc., resumed monitoring these springs in July 1992. Springs I <br />through 6 aze located along the north boundary of the Sanborn East Tract in the northern portion <br />of Section 2. Springs 7 through 11 are located along the southern boundary of [he new tract. The <br />locations of the springs are shown on drawing E8-3286. <br />7 <br />