Laserfiche WebLink
Trout Creek seem to be able to withstond the short periods of high dissolved solids. <br />• Another mitigating influence wos the presence of settling ponds at the bole of <br />drainages from the mine spoils. <br />Current regulations now require the use of settling ponds and buffer zones <br />along streams. As a result, mining the Moffat and West Ridge areas should have <br />even less impact on the Trout Creek fishery than has been observed to date. It is <br />expected that in time (both during and following mining) the stream ecosystem will <br />be enhanced over its present condition by controlling the sediment load reaching the <br />stream (Section 4.6). <br />Studies on Ook Creek have been restricted to infrequent sampling of water <br />chemistry (Moran and Wentz 1974). Due to the apparent effects of organic <br />enrichment at Station I, iT wos not possible to determine any effects of The loadout <br />facility on Oak Creek. In fact, there was an improved community downstream of the <br />Edna Complex due primarily to recovery from the organic enrichment. New sewage <br />treatment facilities for Oak Creek should come on line in 1982 (Sundby 1980) which <br />should improve the situation at Station I. <br />As with Trout Creek, current regulations require protection of all streams. <br />Because of this it is expected that Oak Creek will continue To improve with time and <br />• that no special measurements need to be taken to protect the stream during mining. <br />2.7.4 METHODOLOGY <br />Terrestrial Wildlife -Existing Data <br />Existing data for wildlife on the mine permit area were based on regional <br />rather than specific accounts, e.g., Northwestern Colorado Coal Environmental <br />Impact Statement by BLM (1976). Other sources of material for the mammals were <br />Armstrong (1972), Bissell (1978), Burt and Grossenhieder (1976) and Hall and Kelson <br />(1959). All common and toxonomic names follow Armstrong (1972). References for <br />the birds were Bailey and Niedrach (1958), Behle and Perry (1975), Kingery and Graul <br />(1978), Peterson (1961) and Robbins, Bruun and Zinn (1966), and Rogers (1969). All <br />common and taxonomic names follow the AQU checklist (A.O.U. 1957, 1973, 1976). <br />Potential species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians are listed by <br />habitat preference and abundance in Appendix 2.7-B -Tables I, 2 and 3 respectively. <br />These lists are based on the Colorado Division of Wildlife Latilong classifications <br />. (Bisset 1978; Kingery and Graul 1978; Langlois 1978). <br />Revised 7-81 2.7-69 <br />