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Class III Inventory, Colowvo's Collom Mine Project <br />1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />The undertaking, as defined under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, is Bureau <br />of Land Management's (BLM) authorization of a lease ( Collom Lease Track) for an open pit <br />coalmine totaling 1,796 acres. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the BLM will <br />complete an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the lease boundary area. The cultural resources <br />information produced from this study will be used for the EA. Pending results of the EA, a mining <br />plan must be submitted to the BLM. The treatment and mitigation of cultural resources that will be <br />adversely affected by proposed activities under the mining plan will be completed as part of this <br />analysis. An EA for the mining plan will be required before the open pit coal mine can be <br />implemented. <br />At the request of Colowyo Coal Company ( Colowyo), TRC Mariah Associates Inc. (TRC Mariah) <br />conducted a Class III cultural resource investigation for the proposed Colowyo Mine Expansion. <br />The Class III inventory was conducted on private and state land and on public land administered by <br />the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Little Snake Field Office in Craig, Colorado. Fieldwork <br />was completed between July 26 and August 26, 2005. Craig Smith served as principal investigator <br />under BLM Cultural Resource Use Permit C- 44151. <br />1.1 PROJECT LOCATION <br />The project area is located in northwestern Colorado within south - central Moffat County and the <br />extreme north - central portion of Rio Blanco County (Figure 1.1). The project area is encompassed <br />by the Easton Gulch, Colorado (1966, photorevised 1972), Axial Basin, Colorado (1966), Devils <br />Hole Gulch, Colorado (1966), and Nine Mile Gap, Colorado (1966) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) <br />topographic maps (1:24,000 scale) (Appendix A). A composite of these maps shows the location <br />of the project area and previously recorded and newly recorded cultural resources (Appendix A). <br />47599 TRC Mariah Associates Inc. <br />