From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The watershed encompasses 86 square miles and includes Turquoise Lake as well as the former Sugarloaf Mining District. The elevation of the watershed ranges from 9,400 to 14.433 feet, and includes Mount Elbert and Mount Massive. The mining district was heavily mined and logged from the 1880s through the 1920s.
It drains into the Arkansas River south of Leadville. The goal of the program is to reduce the discharge of heavy metals such as zinc, lead, manganese and cadmium into the streams from old mine tailing piles…A core of landowners who helped form the working group are still active but do not attend meetings as often as in the past, said Cathy Patti, CMC contract administrator. Federal agencies include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, EPA, Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service. State agencies include the Department of Public Health and Environment, Division of Wildlife and the Division of Reclamation and Mining Safety. Local government, landowners and Trout Unlimited are also connected to the process. So far more than $1 million has been spent in restoration projects.
One of the pressing needs last year was to plug the Dinero Tunnel, which drains into Sugarloaf Gulch. Last week the group viewed three-dimensional maps that showed how water levels within old mining tunnels is backing up. New seeps are being tracked to determine whether water that once flowed out of the Dinero Tunnel is finding new ways out of the ground. Wetlands in the drainage also are maintained and monitored…
[Tor Parker and Rich Silky] were lining ditches with limestone above the Tiger Mine drainage to move water around tailings piles and to reduce acidity in water that drains off the piles. In addition, a large tailings pile at the mouth of the Tiger tunnel was moved and capped, and replanting has begun. Sulfur reduction ponds are being constructed where the tailings pile once sat. The progress of the work is judged by measuring the levels of contaminants in both the water and in fish tissue.
More Arkansas River basin coverage here.