2011-08-26_REVISION - C1981010 (5)

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• • • 4.1 Permanent Hydrologic Features Livestock Water Tanks. Permanent impoundments planned as part of the post- mining land use on reclaimed rangelands at Trapper Mine include small Livestock Water Tanks (LSWT's). These ponds are all under two acre -feet in volume and function exclusively to provide much needed drinking water to wildlife and livestock species. In this semi -arid region of the West these types of ponds are of crucial benefit to reclaimed rangelands as they greatly improve grazing distribution and vegetation utilization. Without the adequately distributed water supplies that these ponds provide, wildlife and livestock species tend to congregate around scarce available water supplies and grossly over - utilize a small part of the range while failing to adequately utilize the majority of the range. This proves to be detrimental to both plant and animal resources. Livestock Water Tanks located within this SL -13 submittal (NNE #2, NNE #3, EPM #1, EPM #2, EPM #3 and Oak #1) are presented on Map 2.0. These six LSWT's were surveyed and demonstrate that they meet DRMS design criteria. Table 4.1 -1 demonstrates that they are successfully providing drinking water to wildlife and livestock species on at least an ephemeral basis, which is as much as can be expected in this region of the country. 4.2 Surface Water Impacts Within the area of this proposed bond release application, surface water runs off through seven different watersheds, including discharge through seven active NPDES outfalls. All runoff is tributary to the Yampa River. The seven active discharge points are all covered under NPDES Permit CO- 0032115 and include the following outfalls: 002 (No Name Gulch), 011 (East Pyeatt Gulch), 015 (Grouse Gulch), 016 (Sage Gulch), 017 (Oak Gulch), 019 (West Flume Gulch) and 020 (Middle Flume Gulch). Surface water consistently discharges only through No Name, East Pyeatt and Middle Flume Gulches. The remaining three watersheds seldom if ever record surface water runoff. Throughout the sampling history of these discharge points, no violations of Permit No. CO- 0032115 standards have occurred. Spoil springs that were present in the bottoms of drainages at the down - gradient contact of spoils and non -mined areas in Johnson and No Name Gulches were released from Phase III bond liability with the approval of SL -4. A spoil spring (East Pyeatt South) has developed in the East Pyeatt drainage at the down - gradient contact of spoils and non -mined areas. No spoil springs are present on any of the reclaimed lands proposed for bond release in this application.