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a total of 3.56 miles of Collom Gulch were recorded from a fence crossing that could be identified on <br />aerial imagery down to a point where the stream exits the study area at County Road 32. The ephemeral <br />reaches East Fork of Jubb Creek and Little Collom Gulch were evaluated with unrecorded checkpoints. <br />Checkpoints were also established at interim points between the 0.1-mile stations wherever <br />conditions warranted (e.g., change in width or character of streamside wetland, road crossing, etc.), <br />however, only the pertinent data were recorded at these interim points. At each 0.1-mile station, data <br />were recorded with regard to composition and width of the streambed, combined width of the wetland <br />along each bank, shape and estimated depth of the channel, and up to five of the most dominant <br />vegetation species within an approximate 50-foot reach. On occasion, a soil pit was excavated and <br />Munsell colors noted. <br />Waters of the U. S. were also observed within the project area. Every creek channel was <br />considered to be a WUS where it exhibited a defined bed and bank, was hydrologically connected to a <br />larger surface water system (Yampa River), and was not vegetated. (Vegetated channels were classed <br />as wetlands or uplands based on the appropriate criteria.) Average channel widths were recorded at the <br />various representative checkpoints to facilitate mapping activities and acreage determinations. Where <br />defined channels disappeared but were replaced with wetlands, continuity was assumed upgradient. <br />However, at some point high in the watershed of each drainage basin, both WUS and/or wetlands <br />disappeared and were replaced by mesic expressions of the upland communities with no definite <br />watercourse visible in the concave basins. <br />In addition to the WUS and streamside wetlands along the various drainages, several (49) stock <br />tanks (livestock watering facilities) were observable across the study area. An average size of these <br />stock tanks was determined to be 0.113 acres (70' X 70'). A majority of these exist on a defined <br />waterway resulting from a downgradient berm and fed by either surface flow within drainages or by <br />ground water discharges (seeps and springs). A few stock tanks are located in upland circumstances <br />where they either collect overland sheet flow or are supplied by well water that is either delivered by <br />gravity or by pumping. In several instances involving these stock tanks, there is a question of <br />jurisdictionality that will require decisions on the part of the COE for a final determination. For example, a <br />significant number of stock tanks in drainages are barren of vegetation and do not exhibit wetland soils. <br />Following detailed analyses of overall site characteristics, wetland / upland boundaries were either <br />GPS'd with a sub-meter Trimble (for larger or problematic wetland areas) or were draft mapped in the <br />field at the approximate 0.1-mile intervals along stream courses. The results of the 2005 field analyses <br />are presented in Section 3.0. Copies of the formal 2005 sampling data sheets are included as Appendix <br />A. Recorded checkpoint data is provided in tabular form. <br />CCzm)ARCCRxiExAs§ocffAms, INC. Page 5 Colowyo Coal Co. - Collom Project Wetlands