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WCRC Minutes
August 3, 2005
Intro of members: Zeke Ward, WCRC Chairman and Mineral County
Commissioner; JB Alexander, Creede; Jim Matush, Creede; Erik Sandvik, Creede;
Merl Jennings, Creede; Don Dustin, Mineral County; Jeff Graves, CDMG, Les
Dobson, US Forest Service; Phil Bethke, USGS; Kelley Thompson, WCRC Director
Approval of minutes: No
corrections to the June minutes were proposed.
Motion to approve the June minutes made by Don; second made by JB.
Motion carried.
Additions/corrections to the agenda:
CDMG report – Endangered Historic Place Designation was added to
Reports section. Items of Forest
Service Reclamation Work and Leigh Ann Recognition were added to Old Business.
In-Kind: Forms were provided in
hard copy for volunteers to track time and other expenses.
Zeke encouraged monthly submission of these forms.
Reports:
Director’s Report
Kelley began as full time director on August 1.
Kelley met with Leigh Ann on July 22.
For now, Leigh Ann will continue to work hourly on the brownfields work.
Kelley came to Creede several times in July and described those visits.
Kelley first described the trip underground by Jeff Graves, Jim Herron, and
himself on August 2. In comparison
to water measurements in May, the lower and middle mine pools were down slightly
but water levels in the upper pool had risen.
Jeff said that flow through the flume in the Bachelor shaft was 282gpm on
May 26 and 292gpm on August 2. There
was less air flow in the mine than normal probably due to high outside
temperatures, and there wasn’t sufficient oxygen to reach the Park Regent.
On July 11, Steve Russell, Cindy Villa, Marvin Reynolds, and Kelley conducted
field observations of the re-vegetation trials in the lower Willow Creek
floodplain. It appeared that
application of mushroom compost and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
fertilizer have so far proven most successful for re-establishment of grass in
the floodplain. Fescues, Bromes, and
wheatgrasses have appeared to be the most successful grass varieties in the
trials. The trees and shrubs planted
in 2005 are doing very well. Kelley
has written a summary of the visit.
Zeke and Kelley; and
Clyde
, Eldon Seime, and Henry Brink from the city; met with Bob Tridle and Paul
Gladen of Creede Resources on July 19th.
Creede Resources is very interested in transferring the floodplain,
tailings, and mill sites to the city of
Creede
. Zeke explained that Creede
Resources is completing a characterization of the sites and is considering entry
by them or by the city into a Voluntary Cleanup Plan for the sites.
At the next city council meeting, Zeke will help the city draft a
resolution describing support and zoning for the project, and Kelley will help
develop a map of the site.
Rock from
Wolf
Creek
: Kelley explained that current blasting on
Wolf
Creek
was producing large rock that could be used for stream restoration.
Some time back, Diann Gese with the forest service gave permission to the
Alamosa River Foundation to select and remove large rock from the site for
transport to Capulin for use in their river restoration.
Kelley noted that that Willow Creek could potentially also use this
opportunity to get rock for the stream restoration for only the cost of
transportation. Although a source of
funding has not been identified, the committee authorized Kelley to investigate
whether the forest service would allow the WCRC to get rock from
Wolf
Creek
.
Niton training
: Kelley informed the group that Niton is having free XRF trainings at
various sites in August. Most are on
the coasts, but they are having a training in
Salt Lake City
on August 17. The committee was
interested in seeing if Niton could come to Creede or to a local college to be
able to present a training to a larger group.
Kelley will call Niton to check on training fees.
Checking Account Signature Card
: Kelley mentioned that he needs to have the signature card changed on the
petty cash checking account in order to pay small bills.
Merle made a motion to have Kelley Thompson and Zeke Ward as signatories
on the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee checking account at the Community
Banks of Colorado. Don seconded the
motion, and the motion carried. Kelley
will go to Del Norte to sign the signature card.
CDMG report –
Endangered Historic Place
Designation:
Jeff mentioned that Jim Herron wants to nominate the
Commodore area for Endangered Historic Place Designation with the State Historic
Preservation Office. The CDMG feels
that the Commodore is their top pick for the state, and designation may make
additional grants available to stabilize and preserve the site.
Jim would submit the nomination but would need signatures from the owner
and name WCRC as a co-sponsor. Phil
moved to support the application for Endangered Historic Place Designation for
the Commodore with the State Historic Preservation Office.
Don seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Jeff will inform Him Herron to proceed with the nomination.
Old Business
Floodplain Cleanup: Zeke mentioned that Steve Yochum
was hoping that disturbance to existing vegetation would be minimized in any
cleanup. JB recommended starting
upstream of the flume to remove timbers that could still pose a problem for the
flume, and there is no vegetation to worry about upstream.
Don had idea of cutting up timber into thin slabs, putting “flood of
2005” brand, and selling. Zeke
will check into use of a locally owned skidder.
Kelley will call Wagner and Century equipment about equipment prices.
TAC Report – Commodore Stabilization
: The TAC reported on ideas to stabilize the Commodore area.
The TAC felt that the highest priority is the upper pile area and the
wooden flume. The wooden flume is
near failure, and its failure could be even more catastrophic than this
year’s; potentially taking out the rest of the pile as well as historic
structures including the ore house. Stabilizing
the bed and banks of the lower pile is also very important, but we should deal
with the upper area first. Jim
Herron thought that we should consider preservation of the wooden flume.
The current idea is that we could preserve the wooden flume in place and
potentially use it as a flood bypass for unusually high flows.
A new conveyance system would be installed just to the west of the wooden
flume and tie back into the steel portion of flume to continue to use the steel
drop and stilling basin. The new
flume could be of pre-cast concrete, cast in place concrete, or potentially
plastic pipe.
The TAC also talked budget sources and priorities.
Poxsons should contribute money, the grants that were originally
designated for Windy Gulch could potentially be redirected to the Commodore, and
CDMG could probably match these funds. The
committee compared the priority of the Windy Gulch and Commodore projects.
Windy Gulch may present a flood risk to Creede in a 10 to 25 year flood.
The Commodore will present a flood risk to Creede in a 1 to 5 year flood;
flooding could potentially destroy the most valuable historical mining
structures in the Creede area; erosion of the upper Commodore pile would pose a
serious water quality risk to the Rio Grande; and reconstruction of the flume
could potentially improve long-term water quality by reducing the amount of
water that is infiltrating through the pile from the wooden flume.
Phil mentioned that work at the Commodore should be considered as a
continuation of emergency measures. Erik
made a motion to state that the Commodore stabilization project is a higher
priority project than the Windy Gulch project, the committee would prefer to use
the money originally designated for Windy Gulch at the Commodore site if
possible, and to form a subcommittee to design and implement the project.
JB seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Jeff, Kelley, and Zeke will form the subcommittee and Jim Matush
mentioned that he and other volunteers could help with any work that might be
needed.
TAC Report –Nelson Discharge Equilibrium Data: Erik presented the study
he did using the USGS chemical equilibrium software PHREEQC to evaluate
treatment of Nelson Tunnel water using sodium hydroxide, hydrated lime, and
sodium carbonate. The software
indicated that zinc could not be treated to the level of water quality standard
with remaining concentrations more than 5 times higher than the standards.
JB suggested that we really need bench scale tests to use actual Nelson
water and evaluate treatment using differing amounts of lime.
JB already has lime and much of the equipment to run the tests, but we
would need money to examine metal levels. Some
additional money may be needed for glasswater, etc., and Don estimated that as
much as $500 to $1000 may be needed for lab equipment.
Kelley will see if Mike Wireman could run the metals samples, or, if they
can’t, to see if Summitville could run the samples or help with the tests.
The lab at the high school could also potentially be used to run the
tests. Phil suggested that we should
check with government organizations to see if they may be liquidating lab
equipment, and Phil will get the name of the person in charge of the USGS lab.
Forest
Service Reclamation Work
: Les is still thinking of anoxic drain at Midwest Mine, and hoping to use
equipment mobilized for Commodore work to do a small river stabilization at the
Outlet Mine. The vegetation at the
Midwest and
Phoenix
reclamations are not doing well, and it appears that they need more organics.
Les has looked at costs to purchase and haul mushroom compost for the
sites, but would need somewhere to stockpile the compost.
Zeke got permission from Bob Tridle to use either the Creede Resources
property for stockpiling either near the entrance near the tailings or at the
mill site.
Leigh Ann Recognition
: Zeke talked to Jon who indicated that Leigh Ann had been looking at
horsehair jewelry at Rare Things. They
could get the jewelry in 2 to 3 weeks and it would cost $125.
The committee would also like to make a plaque.
Jim recommended Winning Expressions.
Don moved and Erik seconded a motion to buy the jewelry and plaque for
Leigh Ann. Motion carried.
Kelley will email committee to have people send money to committee.
The committee also wanted to make sure a thank you note had been sent to
Kathleen Reilly for her work on the duck race.
New Business:
Floodplain
photography:
Steve Yochum expressed
interest to Kelley in acquiring aerial photography of the floodplain while the
vegetation is still active. Kelley
mentioned he could probably do infrared and color photography through Agro for
the cost of the airplane and pilot; approximately $200.
The committee asked Kelley to see if the NRCS could pay for this cost.
2006 high flow sampling:
Kelley mentioned that Barb
Horn had contacted him. She is
trying to plan her 2006 schedule and budget and would like to know if the WCRC
is planning on a spring sampling and could again contribute the $1000 for the
sampling. The committee felt that
yes, we should plan on the 2006 sampling and could again contribute the $1000.
JB also inquired into doing a low flow sampling in the fall.
The committee felt that a sampling of a few select sites would be useful
characterize any changes that might have occurred with the flooding.
JB moved and Erik seconded a motion to have the TAC authorize a
subcommittee to develop a sampling plan for the fall.
Motion passed.
The next meeting will be September 7, 2005.
Meeting Adjourned 3:30 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Kelley Thompson | 
