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7 <br /> is the high country between the headwaters of the North and South Forks. <br /> The following discussion of the watershed, from headwaters of the <br /> Purgatoire River to its impoundment in Trinidad Reservoir five miles <br /> west of Trinidad, will be brief. The purpose is simply to describe the <br /> relationship of habitats at or near the mines to other habitats within <br /> the watershed for some of the larger, more mobile wildlife species. <br /> Most of the streams that combine to form the three forks of the <br /> Purgatoire arise in the alpine zone as springs, freshets beneath melting <br /> snowfields, or as the outlet of an alpine or subalpine lake at elevations <br /> of '11,500 to 12,500 feet. Some of the animals that inhabit the Picket- <br /> wire and Stonewall Valleys in late fall , winter and early spring, then <br /> migrate higher up the drainages in summer, are elk and mule deer, and <br /> their predators. Several species of songbirds and raptors common at <br /> the mine sites in the winter will be found at higher elevations, including <br /> the alpine, in summer. In the case of nearly all so-called migrating <br /> species, there will be non-conforming individuals that stay summer-long <br /> in the Allen and Maxwell Mine environs. Therefore, one must consider <br /> the possibility of these species being disturbed by summer mine activities. <br /> Between the alpine, and the pi-non-Juniper and stringers of grass- <br /> lands along the Purgatoire at the Max�e�ell Mine, one encounters the <br /> following: <br /> Krummholz: Dwarfed subalpine fir (Abies Zasiocarpa) , Engelmann spruce <br /> (Picea engeZmanni) and willows (SaZix sp. ) at treeline. <br />