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<br />CHAPTER II <br /> <br />. Inventories will be conducted to determine if other <br />riparian or wetland habitats occur in the resource area. <br /> <br />. Wildlife watering guzzlers will be installed on Godiva <br />Rim. <br /> <br />. Elk habitat on Dry Mountain will be improved by <br />chaining or burning irregular shaped plots of juniper. <br /> <br />. An undetermined number of springs and seeps and <br />associated wetland and riparian areas will be proptected <br />by fencing or other means that will improve the riparian <br />habitat. Water will be transported outside the fenced <br />area for other uses. <br /> <br />Monitoring <br /> <br />Wildlife monitoring studies will be initiated immediately <br />on M and I category allotments, including 13 conflict <br />allotments, 10 yield information needed to make decisions <br />on wildlife numbers. Monitoring studies will also be initiated <br />on allotments exhibiting worst forage conditions. The level <br />of survey will depend on funding, staff, and forage condition. <br /> <br />Support <br /> <br />Engineering, surface reclamation, bydrologic, soils, and <br />archaeologic support will be required for Ihe design and <br />construction of projects. Other resource specialists will assess <br />impacts of proposed projects and identify mitigation, if <br />needed. Fire management support will be used for managing <br />natural fire and prescribed burns. Cadastral survey will locate <br />public land boundaries. <br /> <br />Threatened/Endangered, Candidate, and Sen- <br />sitive Plants <br /> <br />Objectives <br /> <br />. Protect, conserve, and manage Colorado BLM sensitive <br />plant species and locations with adjacent critical sites <br />that affecllheir habitat. If any threalened/endangered <br />or candidate plant species is identified in tbe Little <br />Snake Resource Area, it would be protected through <br />no-surface-occupancy stipulations and any other actions <br />needed to prevent its deterioration and allow its <br />recovery. <br /> <br />Planned Actions <br /> <br />I. Proposed project locations likely to harbor threatened/ <br />endangered, candidate, and Colorado BLM sensitive <br />plants will be surveyed before project development. <br /> <br />Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act says <br />consultation procedures with the USFWS will be <br />implemented when a "may affecl" determination is <br />made for listed threatened and endangered species. <br /> <br />2. If identified, threatened, endangered, and candidate <br />species would be protected through no-surface- <br />occupancy stipulations, <br /> <br />3. Identified Colorado BLM sensitive plants will be <br />protected through avoidance stipulations. When <br />applied, the avoidance stipulation will include the <br />following: "habitat of known populations of Colorado <br />sensitive plans, and those remnant vegetation <br />associations specifically identified, will be protected <br />from human induced activities to the extent such <br />mitigation of impacts to these resources does not unduly <br />hinder or preclude the exercise of valid existing rights. <br />For Colorado BLM sensitive plants, the area of <br />prolection will include Ihe aclual localion of the <br />population and, if present, adjacent critical sites that <br />affect their habitat." <br /> <br />4. Colorado BLM sensitive plants will be protected by <br />designation of Limestone Ridge ACEC/RNA, Cross <br />Mountain Canyon ACEC, Irish Canyon ACEC, and <br />Lookout Mountain ACEC (see Resource Management <br />Plan Map). <br /> <br />Resource Condition and Rationale <br /> <br />Protection of threatened and endangered plant species <br />is required and directed by the Endangered Species Act <br />of 1973. Protection of candidate and sensitive plants and <br />remnant vegetation associations is discretionary, with <br />guidance provided by BLM policy. The approved actions <br />were developed only after careful consideration of all <br />applicable factors including: important and/or unique <br />environmental values, alternative potential resource uses and <br />anticipated effects, historic and existing resource uses and <br />effects, public concern, multiple-use management principles, <br />and all relevant laws and policy. Colorado BLM sensitive <br />plant populations will be maintained in a stable or improving <br />condition. <br /> <br />Implementation Priorities <br /> <br />The following actions need to be implemented during <br />the first five years following approval of this plan. The order <br />in which these actions are listed does not indicate an order <br />of implementation. Management plans will be written and <br />implemented for Limeslone Ridge ACEC/RNA, Cross <br />Mountain ACEC, Irish Canyon ACEC, and Lookout <br />Mountain ACEC. (See Management Units I3A-D in the <br />Management Units Section.) <br /> <br />14 <br />