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co ? I <br />Irene L. Davidson, District Ranger March 14, 2009 <br />C/O Skye Sieber <br />Aspen-Sopris District <br />0094 County Road 244 <br />Rifle, CO 81650 <br />RE: Conger Rock Harvesting Project <br />Ms. Davidson, <br />My name is Lee Bowers and I am a year round resident in the Upper Crystal <br />River Valley. I am writing to you on behalf of my wife Melissa and my one-year-old <br />son as well. I oppose the granting of the permit to the Gallegos Corporation for the <br />Conger Rock Harvesting Project on U.S. Forest Service Land. I own the access that <br />would be used for this project; it is the driveway to my home. The E.A. states the <br />Gallegos own the access road to this area. That would be inaccurate. The Gallegos <br />do have an easement to access their private property, which is where the previous <br />operation has taken place. I have owned this parcel for about twelve years with my <br />home and work being here for over ten years. Due to The combination of my <br />proximity and working from home I am very familiar with the previous operation <br />and while I will not say Westwater Engineering's E.A. is completely inaccurate I <br />can't help but feel it has done a disservice in the way we have been represented, <br />informed, and the perception of the operations impact on the community not to <br />mention it seems biased in favor of the granting of this permit. I would like to state <br />again that I received no notice of the application for permit during the initial scoping <br />and did not actually find out about it until March 2, 2009. <br />I did not object to Gunnison County's and the State's approval of the <br />previous permit because the project took place on private property. While I wished <br />that the Congers had not chosen to quarry stone on their property due to the impact it <br />has on us and our neighborhood I am a firm proponent of property rights and the <br />quarrying was under the guise of excavating a home site within a period of six to ten <br />years. Since the time of the initial granting of the previous permit the community of <br />the Upper Crystal River Valley completed a master plan, which was adopted in 2005, <br />and this new application is exactly the type of development the community does not <br />want to encourage.. I cannot understand why the E.A. would not have consulted the <br />county as most of the impact from this new application takes place in Gunnison <br />County. You may view the Upper Crystal River Valley Master Plan at <br />www.jzunnisoncounly.orWplanning.html. I would also encourage you while visiting <br />this site to view the draft of the proposal for the Upper Crystal River Valley as a <br />special geographic area.