2012-03-07_PERMIT FILE - C2010088 (19)

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Designated critical habitat for the pikeminnow and razorback sucker includes the river channel and the 100 -year floodplain in and adjacent to the project area (USFWS 1994). Throughout the project area, Reed Wash lies within the 100 -year floodplain of the Colorado River (Figure 1) (FEMA 1992 and Mesa County web site 2010). The bonytail and humpback sucker may also occur in the river; however, critical habitat is only found as far east as Black Rocks in the Colorado River, which is approximately 17 river miles west of the project site (USFWS 1994). The bonytail and humpback chub may occur in the Colorado River in the vicinity of the project area. The greenback cutthroat trout ( Oncorhynchus clarki stomias) is listed federally and by the state of Colorado as threatened in Mesa County. Recent genetic tests by the USFWS and CDOW identified cutthroat trout populations in Mesa County as greenback linage (USFWS 2010a). Previously, these populations were thought by biologists to be composed of populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout ( Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus). Genetic and taxonomic issues are currently being resolved by resource management agencies to determine the true genetic character of this trout species. Habitat for both trout species are mid- to higher - elevation, cold water streams. In Mesa County, known populations of Oncorhynchus clarki spp. occur south of the project area on Pinon Mesa and to east in the Battlement and Grand Mesa areas. The Pinon Mesa population is approximately 19 air miles south of the proposed loadout facility in the headwater of the Little Dolores River. Elevations range from 7,400 -8,900 ft on Pinon Mesa where the trout species occurs. The closest population in the Grand Mesa area is south of the town of Mesa and is approximately 36 miles east of the project area at an elevation ranging from 7,300 ft to about 10,000 ft. Other local populations occur in Upper Roan Creek and Battlement Creek near Parachute (Garfield County). Results of the fish surveys by the CDOW in Reed Wash have not detected the presence of any of the listed fish species. The Colorado Quality Control Commission (WQCC) has classified the river segment at the proposed loadout facility as "Aquatic Life Warm 2 ". This is defined as waters not capable of sustaining a wide variety of cold or warm water biota, including sensitive species, due to physical habitat, water flows or levels, or uncorrectable water quality conditions that result in substantial impairment of the abundance and diversity of species (CDPHE -WQCC 2008). Oncorhynchus clarki spp., a invertivore species, require habitat conditions that do not occur in the project area including swift, clear, cold -water streams with boulder /cobble /gravel substrates in Colorado River drainages. The CDOW has designated cutthroat trout habitat for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission 1200 - series rules (COGCC 2009). The lowest elevation of known designated cutthroat habitat west of Rulison, CO to the state line is at approximately 5,100 ft at the confluence of Battlement Creek and the Colorado River east of Parachute, CO. The elevation at the proposed loadout facility is approximately 4,470 ft. Omnivore, herbivore, and piscivore species, such as suckers, minnows, and sunfish, tolerate slow, turbid, warm -water rivers and washes with sand/silt substrates that are present in the project area. Both Reed Wash and the Colorado River south of the proposed loadout facility do not provide the constituent elements necessary to support trout populations on a self - sustaining basis. It is highly unlikely native greenback cutthroat trout would occur at elevations 625 ft lower than known habitat, far removed from cold -water stream conditions, and in generally turbid, warm- 19