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8) Of the communities to be disturbed in the amendment area, all are found in significant <br />+• amounts in the area adjacent to the permit. <br />Furthermore, no habitat(s) of critical importance to any Federal threatened or endangered species <br />were identified within the study area. <br />The farmsteads and orchards are important within the study area because of their structural <br />complexity. The tree stratum provides resting, foraging, and/or nesting coverfor a variety of birds <br />from smaller passerines to raptors. In addition, mule deer occasionally seek shelter and food in <br />old orchards. The Swale habitat is important to the study area wildlife in areas where the willow <br />and cattail components are established. These thickets provide cover for mule deer and ring- <br />necked pheasant. <br />Affected acreages and the vegetation types (habitat) that will be replaced as a result of mining <br />activities are found in Section 2.05.A. <br />Important Wildlife Species and/or Species Groups <br />Threatened or Endangered Species. Two Federally listed endangered species were recorded <br />• in the study area during the baseline surveys. An adu{t (female?) peregrine falcon was observed <br />on 17 August 1987. The peregrine falcon is known to nest along the Dolores River Canyon (see <br />USDI, Fish and Wildlife Service correspondence in Peabody Attachment 11-1 ). No nesting pairs <br />are known from the San Miguel River Canyon near Nucla (Bob Clark pers. comm.). No suitable <br />nesting habitat is present in or near the study area. The individual observed above was probably <br />a post-breeding bird wandering from a nesting territory, perhaps from along the Dolores River. <br />Because of the distance to the nearest nesting habitat, no impacts will occur to this species as a <br />result of mining activities. <br />The bald eagle has been identified as a winter resident in the San Miguel River Valley (Peabody <br />Attachment 11-1 ). No communal roosting and/or feeding areas were identified in the study area. <br />The lack of such areas, proximity to the town of Nucla, and the small size of the permit area <br />precludes impacts to this species. <br />Mr. Ron Arant, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Officer, stated (pers. comm.) <br />that a third endangered species, the whooping crane, was seen once at the Nucla sewage <br />lagoons. This individual was probably a member of the Gray's Lake, Idaho experimental flock in <br />route to or from the Basque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Such an <br />occurrence in the study area is unlikely to happen again. Consequently, no mining-related <br />• impacts to this species will occur. <br />(Revised March zoos) 2.04.11-36 <br />