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<br />~ )- <br /> <br />is the high country between the headwaters of the North and South Forks. <br />The following discussion of the watershed, from headwaters of the <br />Purgatoire River to i~s impoundment in Trinidad Reservoir five miles <br />west of Trinidad, will be brief. The purpose is simply to describe the <br />relationship of habitats at or near the mines to other habitats within <br />the watershed for some of the larger, more mobile wildlife species. <br />Most of the streams that combine to form the three forks of the <br />Purgatoire arise in the alpine zone as springs, freshets beneath melting <br />snowfields, or as the.outlet of an alpine or subalpine lake at elevations <br />of 11,500 to 12,500 feet. Some of the animals that inhabit the Picket- <br />• wire and Stonewall Vaileys in late fall, winter and early spring, then <br />~ ) migrate higher up the 'drainages in summer, are elk and mule deer, and <br />their predators. Several species of songbirds and raptors common at <br />the mine sites in the winter will be found at higher elevations, including <br />the alpine, in summer. In the case of nearly all so-called migrating <br />species, there will be non-conforming individuals that stay summer-long <br />in the Allen and Maxwell Mine environs. Therefore, one must consider <br />the possibility of these species being disturbed by summer mine activities. <br />Betwe:n the alpine, and the pinon-Juniper and stringers of grass- <br />lands along the Purgatoire at the Maxwell Kline, one encounters the <br />following: <br />Krummholz: Dwarfed subalpine fir (Abies Zasiocai~c), Engelmann spruce <br />(Picea engeZmannil and willows (Salix sp.) at treeline. <br />• ` 1 <br />