2014-06-20_REVISION - M1981207 (10)

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Blue Pit 112 Permit Amendment Exhibit H - Wildlife Information Almost the entire site was previously an irrigated pasture on a terrace above the roaring Fork River. Much of the western portion of the site which has not yet been disturbed, is still used as irrigated pasture. The following is an excerpt from the "Wildlife and Habitat Assessment - Western Slope Aggregate Parcel' by Environmental Solutions, Inc. (April 2009). "Records searches, interviews with CDOW personnel and the site visits revealed a number of wildlife species known to use the Property. Despite the generally monocultural nature of most of the vegetation in the area, a reasonably diverse array of species frequent the Property, including elk, mule deer, coyote, cottontail rabbit, and other small mammals. A variety of bird species also utilize the area, at least seasonally, including a wide range of songbirds and raptor species. However, despite the number of species known to use the area, most are notably habitat generalists. There are no special habitat parameters nor specialized species seeking specific habitat functions on the Property. Time and space constraints dictate that this analysis will focus on those wildlife species that are of significant ecological, economic, regulatory or political importance. Other species or ecological elements assuredly occur on the Property, but are omitted in this discussion due to one or more of the following: i) they will not be significantly impacted by the proposed action; 2) they are not specifically regulated by local, state or federal law or code; 3) their life cycle and /or habitat use criterion do not make them reasonable indicators of probable effects to other wildlife species. Several Federal and State - listed Threatened or Endangered species and species ofspecial concern, which have been known to occur in Garfield County were considered but precluded from use in this analysis for a variety of reasons. Most commonly they were precluded due to the lack of suitable habitat in the study area. A complete list of these species along with their legal status and reason for dismissal from further review are shown in Table 2. Three species were selected for analysis because of their regulatory status, sensitivity to human activities, known use of the study area, limited habitat resources in the region and /or their ability to serve as indicators of probable effects to a variety of other wildlife species. Each species is discussed, complete with known -use history, special habitat availability and likelihood of continued future habitat capability for the species. These include mule deer, elk and bald eagles. Table 2: Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive species precluded from detailed analysis on the Western Slope Aggregate Parcel. Blue Pit May 2014 H -1