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E-1 DRAFT Idarado NRDF Letter with Attachments 06-21

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E-1 DRAFT Idarado NRDF Letter with Attachments 06-21 DON BATCHELDER JOHN E. PETERS BEN TISDEL BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 541 4th Street • P.O. Box C • Ouray, Colorado 81427 • 970-325-7320 • FAX: 970-325-0452 Ross Davis Idarado Project Manager Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South Denver CO 80246 [email protected] June 26, 2018 RE: Idarado Resource Damage Funds: Pre-Project Proposal - Review Requested Dear Mr. Davis: Thank you for your letter dated April 30, 2018, regarding the remaining funds in the Idarado Natural Resource Damage fund (NRD funds), and CDPHE’s encouragement to stakeholders in Ouray County to create suitable project proposals. Since receiving your letter, the Ouray County Board of County Commissioners helped organize a public process to identify partners and potential projects that meet the Trustee’s requirements to use NRD funds. We asked stakeholders to focus on potential projects that restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of the natural resources injured; projects that include matching fund sources; projects that are part of a cooperative effort with other organizations; and projects that either will require a low level of operation and maintenance, or for which a suitable alternative for operation and maintenance by an entity or organization other than the State is available. With significant input from a variety of stakeholders, including the City of Ouray and the Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership, three proposed projects rose to the top of the list. Taken in total, these three projects would benefit approximately 109 acres of mountain and sub-alpine forest eco-systems by increasing wildlife habitat, restoring riparian form and function, and improving aquatic habitat. Total estimated cost to complete all three projects, as currently conceived, would be in the neighborhood of $620,000. It is envisioned that all DRAFTof the remaining Idarado NRD funds ($238,824 as of 02/12/18) would be utilized to complete these three projects, as shown in the project summaries, below. Partners would bring about $270,000 of cash and $110,000 of in-kind contributions to complete the projects. We would like CDPHE to please review the following summary of the three proposed projects, and provide feedback to stakeholders and their partners, prior to the project proponents creating final project proposals. Your comments, questions, and concerns will provide guidance, and save the State and local interests time and energy. Your feedback will also help assure that the proposals are tailored to the goals and objectives of the Trustees and CDPHE. With that in mind, the proposed projects are: 1) Silver Mountain Mining Claims Property Acquisition $138,000 NRD Funds Requested $210,000 Total Project Proponent: The Trust for Land Restoration (TLR) Partners: Ouray Trails Group; Ouray County Historical Society; Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP); County of Ouray; City of Ouray; Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS). 2) Atlas Mine and Mill Restoration Project $100,000 NRD Funds Requested $350,000 Total Project Proponent: Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership Partners: Ouray Silver Mines Inc; Ouray County Historical Society; County of Ouray; the Six Basins OHV Project; Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; US Forest Service. 3) Red Mountain Creek- Treasury Tunnel Flow Analysis $10,000 NRD Funds Requested $70,000 Total Project Proponent: The County of Ouray Partner: Hydrowest, Inc, owners and operators of the Ouray Hydroelectric Plant. Attached is a summary of each of the proposed projects. Again, it is our request that CDPHE review, and provide us with feedback, questions, comments and concerns, prior to the proponents and their partners submitting formal proposals. We should also point out that the projects summarized here were the three projects that were the best developed to date, and won the most support amongst the stakeholders involved. There are other potential projects that, at this point, are not as well-developed, but could be developed as suitable alternatives to the projects listed above, given more time. Again, thank you for your willingness to help stakeholders in the Uncompahgre watershed design and complete projects of significant benefit to the natural environment and to the citizens of Ouray County. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has been a key contributor to the environmental health and the public welfare of southwest Colorado, and we are gratified to know our positive relationship with CDPHE continues. We look forward to your response. Sincerely, Don Batchelder Chair DRAFT Attachment 1 w ww.restorationtrust.org 133 N. Lena St. #3, POB 743 Ridgway Colorado 81432 970-626-3236 Silver Mountain Mining Claims Property Acquisition Summary $138,000 NRD Funds Requested $210,000 Total Project Proponent: The Trust for Land Restoration Partners: Ouray Trails Group; Ouray County Historical Society; Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership; County of Ouray; City of Ouray; Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. The Trust for Land Restoration (TLR) proposes to acquire the Silver Mountain Mine, which includes 104 acres of privately-owned mining claims on Brown Mountain, just above Gray Copper Gulch, a contributor to Red Mountain Creek. TLR would then donate the property to the City of Ouray, contingent upon the results of a qualified Phase I Environmental Assessment. The owner has expressed an interest in selling, and is pleased the property might be protected from cabin and/or second home development, and the habitat-fragmentation and loss of eco-system function that such development would afford. Acquiring and conserving the Silver Mountain Mine meets the goals of the Idarado NRDF Trustees by acquiring, protecting, and making available to the public, important wildlife habitat and high-quality aspen/mixed-conifer/montane forest, replacing like-forest irreparably damaged by mining in the Red Mountain Mining District, less than a mile south of the site. There are numerous fresh water springs on the property, each supporting micro-riparian areas. The property lies at elevations ranging from 10,400 feet in elevation to 11,400 feet. Brown Mountain Road, a popular four-wheel drive road emanating directly adjacent and north of Idarado Tailings Pile #3 and US 550 in Ironton Park, travels through the property. Travelers on Brown MountainDRAFT Road enjoy viewing the many historical buildings that sit on or just off the property. Ouray County Historical Society has pledged to catalog and, where appropriate, stabilize and protect as many of these historical remnants as is practical. In keeping with other land acquisitions funded by the Idarado NRD Fund, TLR would retain a conservation easement on the property to assure that the conservation values identified are maintained. The property would be managed by the City in a manner consistent with the intent of the Trustees and the surrounding National Forest. TLR holds the conservation easement on the Garard Property. The eastern boundary of the Garard Property is less than one-half mile from the western boundary of the Silver Mountain property. The Garard Property was acquired in 2001 with Idarado NRDF money by the County of Ouray, in conjunction with the Red Mountain Project. The Red Mountain Project acquired and made public over 10,000 acres in Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel Counties, utilizing $14 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. 3 The Silver Mountain in-holdings are among the last in the greater Ironton Park area that have not already been made public via the Red Mountain Project. The Silver Mountain Mine was primarily a gold, lead and silver mine. It operated from 1882 until about 1920. Though still to be confirmed by locating recent survey markers in the field, it appears that the Silver Mountain Mine portal itself, and several associated cabins and outbuildings, are located on National Forest land, just off the private property. Water quality data collected by USGS, EPA, and DRMS in the past twenty years suggests that water quality from the Silver Mountain Mine varies widely; some samples indicate flow from the adit attains aquatic life standards, while others suggest flow from the adit exceeds aquatic life standards by a wide margin. Additionally, flow from the Silver Mountain Mine adit passes through waste rock. Collectively, the adit and waste rock may impair the riparian and aquatic habitat of the small perennial drainage tributary to Grey Copper Gulch. Diverting water flow from the adit away from the waste rock would benefit the downstream aquatic and riparian habitat. DRMS estimates that diverting the adit flow around the waste rock would cost approximately $30,000 and would create a considerable benefit to aquatic and riparian habitat. TLR has extensive experience working with willing landowners to acquire and make public dispersed mining claims. In 2015, with funds provided by a private foundation, TLR acquired twelve mining claims just south of the Silver Mountain property, and donated them to the US Forest Service. In 2017 TLR acquired the two historic Corkscrew Turntable claims, and donated them to the County of Ouray. Earlier this year, at the request of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, TLR acquired a mining claim near the top of Red Mountain Pass that included an important SNOTEL snow, rain, and climate data gathering site, and donated it to the Southwest Water Conservation District in Durango. DRAFT 4 Attachment 2 Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership 133 N. Lena St. #3, Ridgway, CO 81432 970-325-3010, [email protected] Atlas Mine and Mill Restoration Project Summary $100,000 NRD Request $350,000 Total Project Proponent: Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership Partners: Ouray Silver Mines Inc; Ouray County Historical Society; County of Ouray; the Six Basins OHV Project; Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; US Forest Service. The Uncompahgre Watershed Partnership (UWP) would like to take advantage of a unique opportunity to partner with a private mining company to achieve environmental benefits greater than either organization would be able to achieve independently.
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