Laserfiche WebLink
<br />.....c ",0. <br /> <br />UUli:H <br /> <br />. .. <br /> <br />"-, - - <br /> <br />~ <br />I <br /> <br />During 1979-1980, use by these three groups of species averaged 64.8 use-days/ <br />acre/season at Monte Vista NWR. Aerial transects flown by the BR' in 1978 <br />indicated significantly higher concentrations of water birds using wetlands <br />outside Alamosa NWR (which had an 1979-1980 average of 35.1 use-days/acre/ <br />season.) Because the aerial transects were designed to reveal rough estimates <br />of differential habitat use and not intended to produce population estimates, <br />those transects cannot be used to estimate shorebird use-days for the Closed <br />Basin project area. However, the transect data and knowledge of shorebird <br />habitat preference suggest that the Closed Basin project area supports higher <br />use-days/acre/season of wetland than does Alamosa NWR. For the three groups of <br />species, we estimate 40 use-days per wetland acre per season or' a total of 1.7 <br />million use-days during the breeding season within the Closed Basin project area. <br /> <br />(3) Bird Species of High Federal Interest- Several bird <br />species which are of high Federal interest seasonally migrate through the San <br />Luis Valley utilizing the existing wetlands and wetland habitat. These species <br />are included in Tables 2, 3 and 4. Federally endangered species such as the <br />bald eagle, peregrine falcon and whooping crane utilize wetlands and wetland <br />habitats as food or cover sources in the San Luis Valley. State endangered <br />species found in the area include the white pelican and the greater sandhill <br />crane. The long-billed curlew, great blue heron, greater sandhill crane and <br />Western grebe are bird species of high Federal interest which also utilize wet- <br />lands or wetland habitat in the area during migration. The maintenance of <br />existing wetland areas in the San Luis Valley are important to the management of <br />these bird species. <br /> <br />C. With the Project <br /> <br />1. Fishery <br /> <br />a. Blanca Wildlife Habitat Area <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />] <br />~ <br />W <br />J <br /> <br />. <br />I <br /> <br />Adverse fishery impacts of the project are limited to two coldwater fishery <br />ponds (Mallard 4 and 5) on the Blanca WHA. The construction of the conveyance <br />channel through Blanca WHA and the water level drawdown due to pumping would <br />eliminate the trout fishery in these two ponds. These two ponds, totaling 30 <br />surface acres, produce about 5,251 pounds of trout annually and support about <br />1,050 fishermen days use annually. <br /> <br />b. San Luis Lake <br /> <br />!j <br />] <br /> <br />A maximum of 6 ft 3/s of project water would be pumped into the Head-San Luis <br />Lake complex. This along with 4 ft 3/s pumped into San Luis Lake from the east <br />would stabilize the lake at about 890 surface acres and would permit the Colorado <br />Division of Wildlife to manage the lake as a high quality combination cold-warm- <br />water fishery. In addition to general recreation uses, the lake would support <br />about 40,000 fisherman-days use with net benefits of about $100,000 annually. <br /> <br />c. Main Conveyance Channel <br /> <br />Water quality of the pumped water is expected to be suitable to develop and <br />maintain 42 miles of coldwater fishery in the conveyance channel. The fishery <br />would be maintained by annual stocking by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. <br />A maximum of 10 access points at project-constructed road crossings would be <br /> <br />13 <br />