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' STATE OF COLORADO Roy Romer, Governor DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION OF WILDLIFE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Perty D. Olson, Director 6060 Broadway Denver, Colorado 80216 Telephone: (303) 297-1192 December 12, 1994 Carl Mount Division of Minerals & Geology 1313 Sherman St. Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 • III IIIIIIIIIIIII'll 999 _ REC,~;`~~'~ DEC ~ ~ "~ ~. Division of i•~~•~%~-•• - vCJ••-„ RE: Cooley Gravel Company -Dahlia North Resources Pit -File J1M-94-093 Dear Carl: Fos Wildlife - For People District Wildlife Manager Larry Garcia and myself have visited this project location, and we commented in detail on this proposal earlier, as included with the application. These comments will follow the format of those in our earlier letter to the applicant. Buffer Along the South Platte River -Because most of the property proposed for mining is disturbed cropland already, mining the central portion of the site will not have much effect on wildlife. However, the South Platte River corridor is very important to a variety of wildlife and the large area of riparian vegetation at the northwest corner of the property is a key area for streamside habitat protection. Our original recommendation was that mining disturbance be kept back 400' from the river in this area, even though the stand of trees extends out to about 600'. An alternative suggestion was to allow mining disturbance up to 250' from the stream bank with extensive mitigation measures (topsoiling and plantings) as described in our original letter. The current mining plan proposes to mine up to within 150' of the rivers edge, and in addition, a large berm would be built on the stream bank which would remove even more streamside vegetation. This plan as proposed would almost completely destroy this large island of riparian habitat with only minimal tree and shrub planting proposed as mitigation. We strongly support our earlier suggestions for reducing impacts to this comer of the property and would be willing to discuss them in more detail with your staff and the applicant. Along the west edge of the property, we feel that the applicant's plan is reasonable. The construction of a larger berm than currently exists here will destroy a good number of cottonwood trees which are growing on the current berm. We feel that these should be replaced through replanting on the new berm or nearby. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, James S. Lochhead, Executive Director WILDLIFE COMMISSION, Thomas M. Eve, Chairman • Louis F. Swift, Vice-Chairman • Arnold Salazar, Secretary Jesse Langston Boyq Jr., Member • Rebecca L. Frank, Member William R. Hogberg, Member • Mark LeValley. Member