2004-09-14_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M1977208

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i Wildlife Resources Assessment Cemex "C" Pit and CKD Disposal Site Page 2 5. The Colorado Division of Wildlife listing of wildlife species with endangered, threatened or special concern status was checked against the potential wildlife species list for the Project site to create a list of species of concern for the analysis area. 6. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program database was searched for records in or near the analysis area. The impacts analysis is narrowly focused on the "C" Pit area; however, in order to determine the wildlife species potentially present in the area, the habitat of the entire plant site has been included in the analysis area for this report. 3.0 STUDY AREA EXISTING CONDITIONS 3.1 Geographic and Land Use Setting The Lyons cement plant is located in north-central Boulder County (Figure 1). The Town of Lyons is one mile to the northwest, the City of Longmont is seven miles to the east, and the City of Boulder is twelve miles to the south. Local transportation infrastructure includes Colorado Highway 66 on the north, Hygiene Road on the south, and US Highway 36 on the west (Figure 2). To the north, east and south of the site are agricultural properties, with rural land uses. To the west is the mountain front, also used for agricultural practices, as well as open space, and some rural residential land use. Most of the land near the cement plant has been purchased for open space by Boulder County, whether in fee title or by means of conservation easements. Significant parcels include Rabbit Mountain Open Space to the north, Caribou Springs adjacent to the south, and several parcels along the mountain front, including Cemex, Trevarton and Pierce (Figure 2). These mountain front parcels are part of the North Foothills Open Space complex, including the Heil and Hall Ranches, and total over 12,000 acres of land. ' 3.2 Site Description The Lyons cement plant is sited on approximately 900 acres between St. Vrain Creek and Colorado Highway 66 on the north, agricultural land and rural residential areas to the ' east, Hygiene Road and Foothills Reservoir to the south, and US Highway 36 and the mountain front to the west. The plant is in the north-central portion of the property. The Lyons Quarry is located in the southern portion of the property (Figure 3). "C" Pit is a part of the Lyons Quarry, and is located in the south-central portion of the 900 acre site. ' This pit is the only active area within the Lyons Quarry, the other portions of the quarry have been reclaimed (Photo Points 2-5 and 11). ' The cement plant includes a crusher, kiln, roller mill, finishing mill, loadout facility, clinker storage site, support facilities and offices. An overhead conveyor brings feed stock from the Dowe Flats Quarry to the north across Highway 66. Utility lines and irrigation conveyance structures represent most of the other existing improvements in the analysis area.