INSPEC46262

• Permit No: M1984008
• IBM Index Class Name: Inspection
• Doc Date: 3/16/2004
• Doc Name: Response to Inspection
• From: Southwestern Ecological Services
• To: DMG
• Inspection Date: 2/20/2004
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Southwestern
Ecological
Services
Vegetation Analysis
Wetland Ecology
Land Rehabilitation Planning
Photodocumentation
37 East Colorado Avenue Denver, Colorado 80210-3105 [phone] Fax [phone]
March 15, 2003
RECEIVED
Berhan Keffelew MAR 16 2004
Division of Minerals and Geology
Room 215 Division of Minerals & Geelogy
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, CO 80203
RE: Response to your inspection report dated February 20, 2004 -Barnhart Pit
Permit #M-1984-008
Dear Berhan:
Your inspection report has been forwarded to myself from B.J. Fuller and after discussing your report with
management at Transit Mix of Pueblo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental,Materials, the pexmittee,.I
wish to_pxovide you,with a response. ,This response essentially confirms:and expands onahe brief .,~, „c .
convexsaaon we had recently about,this operation. . ~; . ~ , , __ . ~ ;,; ;,~ ;~; , .
:, . -~ ...
In essence~~I_have beenauthorxzed to proceed with the development.of an amendment f_ox this~site:~As the
existing pezmit area, with the exception of the east end which remains problemagc-from a,logistic.point of
view,-there is notmuch left to mine. It is the desire of my client to amend the large "pasture" to the north
of the western end of the site. That is the area that will be concentrated on in the amendment. Various
options fox the east end will also be explored as a part of the amendment.
There is an difficulty with regard to this area in that it is not actually within the Special Use Permit issued to
Valco by Pueblo County. Our investigations and discussions with county planning has shown that there
were some errors made by Pueblo County in the zoning maps that resulted in considerable confusion as to
the status of this land with regard to a former zoning classification and the Special Use Permit.
Nevertheless, this will require some kind of action on the part of Pueblo County to have it included in the
Special Use Permit, although exactly what that action is has not been determined due to the complexity of
the zoning history.
I am initiating the production of an amendment to add this "pasture" to the site. The total area is
approximately 60 acres. It does not seem that a temporary cessation action would necessarily be
appropriate at this time in hght of the development of an amendment.
As for the_incredible abundance.of tumbleweeds at this site, in large part that seems to _be,a;consequence,
m part of heavy gxazulg of the pasture.axea Ito the north which has xemoved,all the:`,`native'~;vegetation ;
except in the more' favorable locations (this ts'the area that will be added by amendment). Clearly this is a
pxoblem.that will need_to be.addxessed in,the amendment and will require a rather intensive, although not
especially'complex, ;weed management plan to bring these weeds under control. Of course;,this entire area
is heavily ndustrial,with' amultitude of disturbances beyond the boundaries of this property and that is the:
source of additional weed materials that tend to accumulate around the west side of the site. Fencing (most
of the site is already fenced) helps catch some weeds but many of those weeds also "climb" over the fences