2014-06-20_REVISION - M1981207 (10)

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Blue Pit 112 Permit Amendment can safely assume that a great many other species will be adequately supported in the area as well (Caro & O'Doherty X999, Lambeck 1997, Roberge & Angelstam 2004). Mule deer are known to utilize the site throughout the year. The Property is not considered to be a production area but is shown as normal summer range for the species. There are no migration corridors mapped on the site by CDOW. However, the Property is listed as a Winter Concentration Area, which areas are defined as locations that harbor 200% higher densities of animals than surrounding areas of defined winter range in the five average winters out of ten. The entire Property is also mapped by CDOW as Severe Winter Range for mule deer, which is defined as the area on which go% of the animals may occur when annual snowpack is at its maximum and /or when temperatures are at their lowest during the worst two winters out often. CDOW considers such sites as critical habitat for the species and gives these areas the highest habitat priority ranking for both deer and elk However, because the Property has been cleared of all native shrub species and is managed as an irrigated hayfield, forage available for deer during the winter season is extremely limited, and particularly so under the severe, deep -snow circumstances indicative of CDOW's definition of critical winter conditions. Further, the size of the irrigated fields also makes the area less attractive for deer due to the fat terrain and distance from security cover. That said, deer do make some use of the hayfields throughout the year so long as snow cover remains shallow enough and encrusted to permit them to forage. Generally, however, deer make notably less use of the Property than do elk. Elk are known to utilize the area fairly regularly, mainly from mid fall as they seek refuge during hunting seasons, and throughout the winter months as long as snow cover remains light enough to allow them to forage. Elk can tolerate deeper, crustier snow surfaces than deer, and can also persist on a lower - quality diet, which explains the relatively higher use levels by elk noted in the area. However, though elk use the area more than deer, this does not imply that elk use is significant in the regional context. Given the amount of existing development and presence of the county road through the valley, much of the elk utilization of the area is done nocturnally as the herds seek to avoid human interaction, though they can occasionally be found on the Property in daylight hours. There are no mapped summer range, production areas or migration corridors for elk on the Property, and surprisingly, none of Property is mapped as any kind of winter range at all by CDOW. This is surprising in that CDOW typically maps general winter range with a fairly broad stroke and the bulk of elk use on the Property clearly occurs during the winter months. Since elk are generalist grazers, the lack of the native shrub component over much of the site and the dominance of irrigated grass hay does not render the rangeland as unsuitable for them as it does for deer. However, like the deer, elk require some areas of security cover and adequate travel corridors in order to utilize the site, and the broad expanse of open Blue Pit May 2014 H -3