Laserfiche WebLink
• Cooley Gravel Compan}- • <br />Littleton Neclamation Plan <br />197. <br />Gravel mining is a temporary land use, serving the immediate needs of <br />a (;rowing community, and should also be considered as an opportunity to <br />transform a property to a unified permanent land use of increased social <br />value to a mature community. The Cooley Gravel Company continues reha- <br />bilitation of the Littleton gravel operation concurrent with mining, and <br />submits this report on the progress of the reclamation in 1977 toward <br />ttie requirements of the Colorado dined Land Reclamation Act and the <br />Cooley Gravel Company's final land use concept. <br />Reclamation work focuses this year on the stabilization and completion <br />of grass planting on 10 acres of land along the north and west sides of <br />the main Fond, together with a major commitment to establishing native <br />_- <br />lowland trees on the property. (See map _-'~ <br />Grading with the D9 dozer began in early April cutting the steep banks <br />to a more gradual slope to the water's edge. The banks are now a uniform <br />11:1 slope, which prevents erosion problems, and permits access by farm <br />equipment. Stable straw from stockpiles on the Cooley and adjoining Turk <br />properties was spread out on the slopes. Discing prepared the site for <br />grass seeding with a ;,rain drill, and incorporated the straw as mulch <br />and organic material. Grass recommended for this site by the Soil Con- <br />servation Service County Agent included fairway wheatgrass, sideoats <br />grama, streambank wheatgrass, and yellow sraeetclover. The straw mulch <br />is being allowed to summer fallow, prior to the favorable planting time <br />beginning in late August. Prior to seeding with the grain drill then, <br />irrigation ditches already plotted will I;e pulled following the hori- <br />-r,ontal contours of the banks. hater pumped from the ~+ond soaks down <br />;lope from the filled ditches through the soil. (See photos 2 G:: 3J <br />'t`ree planting at this ten-acre site ba{;an April 23, with the plantin g <br />