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• 2) The active stream channel alluvium in main Holton Draw <br />does not extend any farther up the headwaters region than the <br />confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork of Bolton Draw (see <br />map at the end of this report). <br />3) Although there is a minor pocket of perched groundwater <br />existing in the region mapped as an unnamed alluvial soil, it is <br />isolated from the downstream main water table aquifer associated <br />with the main Bolton Draw alluvium as indicated by water levels in <br />exploration holes and in monitor Well 2. <br />4) Except in the region of unnamed alluvium which contains <br />enough near surface groundwater to promote the growth of isolated <br />clumps of subirrigated species (such as willows), nowhere else <br />downstream in the North Fork of Bolton Draw is there any indication <br />of natural subirrigation. Hence, except for the above case, water <br />availability is not present, one of the main requirements in <br />• describing a potential alluvial valley floor. <br />5) Data collected by Wyoming Fuel Company through one year's <br />monitoring of the alluvial aquifer in the vicinity of well 2 concludes <br />that the North Fork of Bolton Draw is an ephemeral drainage. An <br />ephemeral drainage does not qualify as a potential alluvial valley <br />floor based on water availability for natural subirrigation. <br />6) The potential for flood irrigation agricultural activities <br />do not exist within the Bolton Draw watershed. <br />In summary, the area that will be disturbed by mining, as <br />well as the stretch of downstream drainage referred to as the North <br />Fork of Bolton Draw is not a potential alluvial valley floor. <br />Hence, further discussions are limited to an analysis of the <br />material damage mining will have on the main Bolton Draw drainage, <br />which could be a potential alluvial valley floor. <br />• <br />-115- <br />