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Col o <br />[ Inivcrsity <br />Knowledge to Go Places <br />December 22, 2014 <br />Angela M. Bellantoni Ph.D. <br />Environmental Alternatives Inc. <br />1107 Main Street <br />Cation City, CO 81212 <br />Dear Angela: <br />The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) is in receipt of your request for information regarding the <br />Pioneer Sand- Fremont County Mine Survey Site of interest in Fremont County, Colorado. In response, I have <br />searched our Biodiversity Tracking and Conservation System (BIOTICS) for natural heritage elements <br />(occurrences of significant natural communities and rare, threatened or endangered plants and animals) <br />documented from the vicinity of the area specified in your request, specifically within a two-mile radius of <br />project area as described by the project legal description Environmental Alternatives, Inc. provided to outline <br />this request. <br />The enclosed report describes natural heritage resources known from this area and gives location (by <br />Township, Range, and Section), precision information, and the date of last observation of the element at that <br />location. This report includes elements known to occur within the specified project site, as well as elements <br />known from similar landscapes near the site. Please note that "precision" reflects the resolution of original <br />data For example, an herbarium record from "4 miles east of Colorado Springs" provides much less spatial <br />information than a topographic map showing the exact location of the occurrence. "Precision" codes of <br />Seconds, Minutes, and General are defined in the footer of the enclosed report. <br />The report also outlines the status of known elements. We have included status according to Natural Heritage <br />Program methodology and legal status under state and federal statutes. Natural Heritage ranks are <br />standardized across the Heritage Program network, and are assigned for global and state levels of rarity. They <br />range from "1" for critically imperiled or extremely rare elements, to "5" for those that are demonstrably <br />secure. <br />You may notice that some occurrences do not have sections listed Those species have been designated as <br />"sensitive" due to their rarity and threats by human activity. Peregrine falcons, for example, are susceptible to <br />human breeders removing falcon eggs from their nests. For these species, CNHP does not normally provide <br />location information beyond township and range. Please contact us should you require more detailed <br />information for sensitive occurrences. <br />There is one CNHP designated Potential Conservation Areas (PCA) in the general project vicinity and one <br />Network of Conservation Areas (NCA), please see enclosed site reports and shapefiles. In order to <br />successfully protect populations or occurrences, it is necessary to delineate conservation areas. These <br />conservation areas focus on capturing the ecological processes that are necessary to support the continued <br />existence of a particular element of natural heritage significance. Conservation areas may include a single <br />occurrence of a rare element or a suite of rare elements or significant features. <br />