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West Elk Mine 2008 Annual Hydrology Report 13 <br />• Sylvester Gulch then into the North Fork of the Gunnison River. The mine surface water runoff is <br />treated and routed to holding ponds and is then discharged to the North Fork, if necessary. All of <br />the mine water discharge occurs between the North Fork Upper and North Fork Lower monitoring <br />stations. The three temperature monitoring sites in North Fork of the Gunnison River are discussed <br />in Section 3.1.5.1. <br />3.1.1.5 Sylvester Gulch (Upper, Middle, Lower) <br />Sylvester Gulch is an intermittent stream that drains the north central mine area. Many of the <br />active surface facilities of the mine are located within the Sylvester Gulch drainage basin area <br />including: the main road to the mine facilities from Highway 133, the coal refuse piles, the mine <br />ventilation shafts, and the mine water discharge facility. The three monitoring sites in Sylvester <br />Gulch include: Upper Sylvester Gulch (9-inch Parshall flume and staff gage), Middle Sylvester <br />Gulch (12-inch Parshall flume, staff gage, and data logger), and Lower Sylvester Gulch (no flume <br />or data logger). These three sites monitor areas up-gradient of the mine surface facilities, areas <br />down-gradient of the mine water discharge point and the mine facilities, and areas down-gradient <br />of the mine spoils dump, respectively. The five temperature monitoring sites in Sylvester Gulch <br />are described in Section 3.1.5.2. <br />• 3.1.2 Lower North Fork Drainage Basin Surface Water Monitoring <br />Stations <br />3.1.2.1 North Fork Lower <br />The North Fork Lower monitoring station monitors the North Fork of the Gunnison River down- <br />gradient of the mine facilities area and mine discharge points (Map 2). <br />3.1.2.2 Lower Gribble Gulch <br />Gribble Gulch is an ephemeral stream that flows only in response to storm events and spring <br />runoff. This stream drainage drains the western B-seam mine panel area. The Lower Gribble <br />Gulch monitoring station is located west of the mine, does not have a flume or data logger, and was <br />established to monitor the effects of mining in the west and northwest B-seam mine panel areas. <br />This site has been monitored since 1977. <br />3.1.3 Minnesota Creek Drainage Basin Surface Water Monitoring Stations <br />3.1.3.1 Lick Creek Flume <br />Lick Creek is an ephemeral stream that is tributary to upper Minnesota Creek and flows only in <br />response to storm events and spring runoff. Lick Creek drains the southern part of the un-mined <br />SOD coal lease area (Map 2). The Lick Creek Flume monitoring station was established in 1977 <br />June 2009 HydroGeo, Inc.