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F1LI~: /LI ~ ~r~~7~r <br />sfrE:~°~'-~~, <br />pFD[zc~'~_ ~ <br />Colorado Division of I~:irerals and Geolo r" <br />iii iiiiiiiiiiu iii <br />700 >;. 2nd St. ~r20 <br />Cortez, CO 81321 <br />I•Iarch 15,01 <br />R~eiv~ <br />701 Camino del ?io, Room 125 <br />Durango, co s13o1 RFC MAR j g 20 pl <br />Dear sirs: 0;~,. M'4iP ,~~ ~ryis~ols9oFjc,~d <br />~ coq 1 ! ~ M/nera~s Gry~ee <br />ollorrir><g are some of my concerns or obC'~~ions t the Line Camp $ Geo/off, <br />Gravel Pit: (All mentioned tha the first infoimal`''(fs~,~ference today) <br />1. I would like to see the reclamation conditions~~reed upon bett;een <br />the .Applicant and the County Commissiorers designated also in ~•our reclama- <br />tion plan. That is, any ponds created should hive irregular--not- square- <br />outlires with sloping banks to allow natural revegetation And th?t mere <br />mono-culture grass is not allo~nd but rather a variety of mti~r grasses, <br />shrubs, and trees. <br />2. It ~rould'oe prefer?>>le to h~ve Tall re-seedings or ~7c*ttin,^,; in <br />s'ucccssive years rather than ore big effort. This would .eve greater possi- <br />bility of catching sufficient rainfal sometime. (Recommended by South•:rest <br />Seeds of Cortez'). Also the Forest Service botanist at Dolores has made a <br />list of suitable riparian species for the Dolores River. 1:any of these <br />such as choke cherry, trild roses, thimble berry, snorrberry, three-leaf sianac, <br />squai~ bush and native rrillo`rs and birchare available commercially and should <br />be used. <br />3. I am concerned about having a t:`ide buffer zone between the pit <br />and the river. There already is a strip of riparian Forest 'iervice land <br />betcreen Truelson's and the river, but more buffer should be added both to <br />protect the riaprian strip and to avoid pit avulsion. I see catastrophic <br />channel changes as a real possibility here. The Dolores River has changed <br />its course already historically from one side of the valley to the other, <br />long before thare were gravel pits. The more gravel pits we get, the smaller <br />the floods needed to create nit capture and channel change. .1t the county <br />level, nobody has the knotaledge or expertise in rivers to forsee t•riping out <br />people's homes plus the trhole tovrn of Dolores, so I implore better expertise <br />at the state nexmittin,g level. The Dolores '.fiver has a steep gradient, <br />large stream power for its size as it moves cobbles and boulders in hedload. <br />This valley is exceptionally narrow, and many homes already are built in the <br />floodplain. .All tre need now is a bunch mo,e gravel pits to set all these <br />people up for disaster. Then everyone trill say, "Oh how tragic!" Gravel <br />pits in this river plain are a threat to lives and should not be allo:red. <br />L,. It would be far preferable to direct the county's interest tovrard <br />mining gravels up on Haycamp 1"esa out of harm's Tray. These are also Dolores <br />River gravels, simply the glacial out trash of 100,000 years ago. A study <br />at Ft. Letuis College already has identified them as the most efficient to <br />mine and haul in I:ontezLUna County. <br />Thanks for listening to one geologist's concerns. <br />Iiaril '3oynto <br />