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<br />-26- <br />will be more severely impacted by project developments in Colorado <br />because more acres of antelope winter range will be destroyed there. <br />The loss of winter range will also have a much greater impact on the <br />total antelope resource .in Colorado than in Wyoming, although the <br />unnecessary loss of any wildlife is not passed off lightly by either <br />state. The Colorado Division of Wildlife estimates that the loss will <br />amount to 2.5 percent of the antelope population in Management Unit A-3, <br />approximately 1,250 animals. <br />Important sage grouse habitat in Colorado and Wyoming will also <br />be lost if the project is constructed. This habitat can be generally <br />described as the sagebrush biome below the 6,500-foot contour. It <br />provides breeding, nesting, early brood-rearing, and critical <br />winter needs. Essentially, the affected sage grouse habitat coincides <br />closely with the critical antelope winter range. The overall impact <br />will be much greater in Colorado because: (1) more sage grouse <br />habitat will be destroyed below the Pot Hook canal than below the <br />Dolan Mesa Canal; and (2) the lands below the Pot Hook canal provide <br />. critical winter range to such a large fraction of Colorado's total <br />sage grouse resource (Figures 14 and 15). <br />. There are few wildlife species that are more dependent upon a single <br />plant than are sage grouse, particularly in the winter. From about <br />mid-October through late May, 90 percent or more of their diet is <br /> <br /> <br />