PERMFILE137617

• Permit No: C1996084
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 8/2/2001
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit 05 Cultural Resources Report 2
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

CLASS III CULTURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY

INTRODUCTION
Lorencito Coal Company LLC (Lorencito) contracted with Greystone Environmental
Consultants (Greystone) to conduct an intensive cultural resource im~entory for an
amended mine permit application. Areas requiring cultural resource inventory consisted
of areas of proposed contour cuts, ponds, and fill areas on the east and west sides of
Lorencito Canyon north of Little Pine Canyon, the lower portion of Jeff Canyon, the
lower portion of Little Jeff Canyon and a small area along the south side of the
Picketwire Valley west of Lorencito Canyon (Figure 1). These azeas are east of and
overlapping with cultural resource inventories conducted in 1996 for a mine petmit
application (McKibbin et al 1997). The majority of the contour cut areas identified for
inventory are along moderately steep (30-40%) slopes overlooking the canyons. At one
extreme, some of the north-facing slopes along the Picketwire Valley approach 70%
slope, and at the other extreme, there is a large area of level to gently sloping bench north
of Jeff Canyon. Fill and pond areas are located on slopes and terraces below the contour
cuts.
The mine surface and minerals are privately owned. However, because the Colorado
Division of Minerals and Geology, Mined Land Reclamation Board has regulatory
jurisdiction over the extraction of coal deposits under the auspices of the USDA Office of
• Surface Mining, permits aze subject to the regulatory requirements of a Memorandum of
Understanding between the Mined Land Reclamation Board and the Colorado Office of
Archaeology and Historic Preservation. The pedestrian inventory was conduced by
Cherie K. Walth and Michael Landham of Greystone on March 21-23, 2001, by Carl
Spath, PhD and Cherie K. Walth on April 17-18, 2001, and by Cherie K. Walth on June
] 1, 200(, under State of Colorado Archaeological Permit #2001-35. Carl Spath, PhD,
served as Principal Investigator for the project.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT
' The project azea is located in the lower portion of Lorencito Canyon on the south side of
the Picketwire Valley, about fifreen miles west of Trinidad, Colorado. The Picketwire
Valley is the northern boundazy of the project area, and the project extends southerly
along Lorencito Canyon to an area between Puertecito and Little Pine Canyons. The
project area also extends a short way up the lower portions of Jeff Canyon and Little Jeff
Canyon. This area is in the Park Plateau, an azea of canyons entrenched in the strata of
the Raton Formation. The resulting topography is dominated by narrow, steep-sided
canyons bounded by flat-topped benches and ridges. Elevations in the project area range
from about 6,90 feet above sea level at the confluence of Lorencito Creek and the
Purgatoire River, to 6880 feet at the south end of the project.