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July 8, 2014 <br />COLORADO <br />Parks and Wildlife <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />2300 S. Townsend Avenue <br />Montrose, CO 81401 <br />P 970.252.6000 I F 970.252.6053 <br />Chris Gilbreath <br />1100 west 116th Avenue <br />Westminster, CO 80234 <br />RE: Prairie dog removal at New Horizon Mine <br />Dear Mr. Gilbreath, <br />RECEIVED JUL 1 7 2014 <br />Thank you for consulting with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) about your project to <br />remove prairie dogs on the reclaimed areas of New Horizon Mine. Colorado statute 33 -6- <br />107(9) allows private landowners to remove nuisance species, including prairie dogs, when <br />damage is being caused, any time of year, without a license. Any legal methods may be used <br />including fumigation or pesticides as long as the applicator has the proper licensing. Use of <br />poisons with zinc oxide is recommended over other anticoagulants because it minimizes <br />impacts to non target species (Seglund and Schnurr 2010). We also recommend against the <br />use of concussive devises because of their impacts to non - target species like burrowing owls. <br />CPW also suggests looking at all methods of control, both lethal and non - lethal. <br />Both federal and state law prohibits harming or killing burrowing owls or their nests, <br />which are commonly found in prairie dog towns throughout Colorado. Burrowing owls arrive <br />in Colorado to breed beginning in March and use prairie dog burrows extensively for nesting <br />and roosting. Nesting and Fledging of young is expected March through August and adults and <br />young may be present until late summer or early fall. To minimize impacts to borrowing owls <br />we recommend the use of poisons with zinc oxides as the active ingredient or conduct work <br />later in the fall after November 1st. If these recommendations are not practical we <br />recommend surveying to see if burrowing owls are present before work is started. Enclosed is <br />the recommended survey protocol and actions to protect against burrowing owls as well as <br />statute 33- 6- 107(9). <br />Sincerely, <br />M 16 <br />Tony onacquista <br />District Wildlife Manager -Nucla <br />Colorado Parks and Wildlife <br />Literature Cited <br />Seglund, A. E. and P.M Schnurr. 2010. Colorado Gunnison's and white - tailed prairie dog <br />conservation strategy. Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver, Colorado, USA. <br />Bob 0. Broscheid. Director, Colorado Parks and Wiidiife • Parks and W cltife Commission: Robert W. Bray • Chris Castilian. Secretary • Jeanne Horne I Nz , -- ' O <br />Bill Kane, Chair • Gaspar Perncone -Dale Pizet • James Pribyt • James vigil + Dean Wingfield + Nlichelte Zimmerman . Alex Zipp +i <br />Attachment 2.05.6(2) -2 -1 <br />