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WILDLIFE RESOURCES ASSESSMENT DUCRWORTH PIT. WELD COUNTY. COLORADO processing at existing gravel processing facilities south of the road. Mining of the gravel resources will completely avoid Idaho Creek and any associated wetlands. Water within Idaho Creek is fully controlled by a headgate located upstream on Boulder Creek and the creek functions entirely as a controlled irrigation canal. The excavated areas reclaimed as two recreational, groundwater ponds. Ecological and Other Features of the Assessment Area The project site is located between Highways 1 19 and 52, just west of Rinn in Weld County, Colorado (Figure 1). This site historically has been used for agriculture. including livestock grazing and agricultural crops. Idaho Creek has been great]} altered by channelization, water diversion, and bank stabilization (riprap banks) and presently functions entirely as an irrigation canal. Land use in the area consists of agriculture, sand and gravel mining, light industrial and rural residential. Portions of the Idaho Creek corridor have been impacted by past agricultural practices and aggregate mining. both upstream and downstream of the site. Rural residential homes have been built immediately north of the project site (Photograph 1). The western side of the project site contains a mowed hay field composed of pasture grasses (Photograph 2). Native vegetation in this area has been largely replaced by introduced grasses such smooth brome (Bromopsis inermis), slender wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum), and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pretensis). The eastern side of the project site is a grazed pasture characterized by a mixture of native and introduced grasses. The entire pasture has been grazed by livestock and a small colon} of prairie dogs. The grass cover within the pasture is very dense and contains generally less than 5 percent bare ground. Idaho Creek is characterized as a small meandering irrigation canal with a narrow band of wet meadow and wetland vegetation (Photographs 3 and 4 taken in 2Q~3). Vegetation along the creek consists of a variety of wetland species including reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea), wooly sedge (Carex lanuginosa), curly dock (Rumex crispus), and cordgrass (Spartina pectinala). The creek contains veq little shrub cover, although patches of low growing sandbar willow (Salix exigua) are scattered alone the creek. Water flow through Idaho Creek is entirely diverted out of Boulder Creek and the 2 ERO Resources Corporation