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<br />-36- <br /> <br />use. In Colorado, this secondary impact will, in effect, block out <br />all the lands from Willow Creek west to an area between Gladhill Draw <br />. and Thornburg Gulch from significant antelope use during severe <br />winters. Consequently, it is estimated that 25 percent of the antelope <br />herd in Management Unit A-3 will be lost. <br /> <br />Furthermore, no feasible plan can be formulated to prevent the <br />destruction of this winter range or to compensate for it in some <br />~ other fashion if the project is developed. The animals regularly <br />using the destroyed habitat will be displaced, and adjacent lands <br />will not absorb them. An irretrievable loss to Colorado's antelope <br />f resource will occur. <br />The project will also destroy much critical winter sage grouse habitat <br />in Colorado and will adversely affect a significant proportion of <br />Colorado's total sage grouse population. In addition to converting <br />8,000+ acres of sage grouse habitat to irrigated cropland, the <br />project will break up an extensive undeveloped stand of sagebrush <br />(25,OAO acres +) into three separate tracts interspersed with <br />agricultural land. Although these tracts may not be directly impacted <br />. by the project, the interspersion factor plus increased farming, human <br />activity, and livestock use in the general area will have a direct <br />bearing on the numbers of sage grouse that will use them. Due to <br />f <br /> <br />