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--~ ~~;~ s ~sss ' ~ • Western C`radc Regc:la:ery 1 ~~,~ .wr~aae -United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE f Fsolo@al Servim ... . . ~Y „..>'° 764 Horimn Drive, Building B lIE3Qfl •DORJD Grand Junction, Colorado 6 1 5 06-7 916 Received IN REPLY REFFlt 7'O.: rl /, Y p ~ ,~~~ ES/CO:COE /i L MS 65412 GJ Durango Fteld OfliCg Apri 1 8. 1999 Division of Minerals b Gap Lt. Colonel Michael J. Walsh U.S: Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District 1325 J Street Sacramento, California 95814-2922 Re: Public Notice Number 199875455, Grand Junction Pipe. Soaring.Eagle Gravel Pit, Mesa County. Colorado Dear Colonel Walsh: Tl~is responds to the subject public notice in which the applicant is proposinr; to gravel mine 105 acres of a floodplain of the Colorado River within sections 3•~ and 35, T. 1 N., R. 2 W.. anti section 16, T. 11 S.. R. 101 W., Mesa County. Colorado. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reviewed the subject Public Notice and offers the following comments. These comments have been prepared under the authority of, and in accordance with, the provisions of the Endangered Species Act (16U.S.C. 1531 et. seq.) and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661 et. seq.) and constitute the report of the Department of the Interior. As you are aware, the proposed project site is located within designated critical habitat of the endangered Colorado pikeminnow' (Ptychocheilus iucius) and razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texa-lus): Floodplain alteration and water depletions associated with the proposed project may affect these species as well as the endangered humpback chub (Gila cyJ-ha) and bonytail (Gila elegans). It is also within the range of the endangered soutl,•cestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus). peregrine falcon (Fa)ce peregrinus) and *_he threatened bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). The Service received your letter initiating formal Endangered Species Act section 7 consultation on March 29. 1999. The Service concurs with .our "not likely to adversely affect" determination for the southwestern willow flycatcher, peregrine Falcon, and bald eagle because the proposed project avoids direct disturbance of the habitats of these species by providing a riparian buffui• zone. The proposed plc n, provides a riparian buffer between the mining area and the Colorado River and an island in the Colorado River. The island and the riparian areas provide habitat Ior bald eagles and potentially southwestern willow flycatchers and the pry,/ species of the peregrine falcon. The Service also concurs with your determination that the proposed project may affect the four endangered 'formerly squawfish