2018-07-19_PERMIT FILE - X201821210

• Permit No: X201821210
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 7/19/2018
• Doc Name: Incompleteness reply from operator
• From: Mountain Coal Company, LLC
• To: DRMS
• Email Name: TNL
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement I Federal Coal Lease Modifications -COC -1 362 & COC -67232
Gunnison LAU are displayed in Table 3-27. Other standards and guidelines in the SRLA which apply to
this project are included in Appendix A, Table 3.8c, in the lease modification Biological Assessment
(project record). GMUG's SBEADMR analysis in 2016 updated acres within the Mount Gunnison LAU
and established the balance of acres for the 30% conservation limit for lynx within Mt. Gunnison LAU at
6,440 acres (USDA 2016, USDI 2016).
Table 3-26. Mount Gunnison Lynx Analysis Unit Existing Condition (rounded to nearest acre)
LAU Name
Mount Gunnison LAU
Previous Actions*
Possible Future Actions (Hazard tree
removal)
Lease Modifications Area Total
Proposed Modification
COC -67232 Area
Proposed Modification
COC -1362 Area
COC -67232 Foreseeable
Surface Affected
COC -1362 Foreseeable
Surface Affected
Total Foreseeable
Surface Affected
Private Lands
Private Lands
Foreseeable Surface Affected
Parent Lease COC -1362
Total Acreage
Suitable
Habitat
Acres
37,995**
22,417**
1718
919
1436
809
800 627
40
35
75 <75
235
i[8
Parent Lease COC -1362 7
Foreseeable Surface Affected
Acres Currently Unsuitable Acres Non Habitat
Habitat (% of lynx habitat) (% of LAU)
0 (0)* 15,578** (52.2%)
163 (<1%)**
282
*Previous mining -related loss of habitat is beneath the scale of R2VEG and does not show up in the current GIS information
**Habitat remapped in 2010- to better align with lynx homerange sizes and habitat; analysis updated per SBEADMR BA & BO, USDA 2016;
this includes a cumulative disturbance which was defined as roads+ 25% of activities
Lynx breed in March and April in the north, and kittens are born in May and June in the Yukon (Ruediger
et al. 2000). Den surveys in May and June 2005 in Colorado found kittens in the dens at that time (CPW
2005a.) All of the 2005 dens were scattered throughout the high elevation areas of Colorado, south of I-
70. Most of the dens were in spruce/fir forests in areas of extensive downfall. Elevations ranged from
10,226 to 11,765 feet for 2005 dens (CPW 2005a) with a mean elevation of 3354 meters (11,001 feet)
for all dens prior to 2009 (CDOW 2009). However, the project area is all below the elevation where
Benning has occurred in Colorado.
Lynx have been described as being generally tolerant of humans, including moderate levels of
snowmobile traffic (Ruediger et al. 2000). In a lightly roaded study area in northcentral Washington,
logging roads did not appear to affect habitat use by lynx. In contrast, a study in the southern Canadian
Rocky Mountains found that lynx crossed highways within their home range less than would be expected
(Ruediger et al. 2000).
Lynx have been reintroduced to southwestern Colorado, beginning in 1999. Tracking of these lynx
indicate that lynx are using or moving through the Forest, but only a few of the relocations lie within or
adjacent to the project area (CPW 2005). Of the total 218 adult lynx that have been released in Colorado,
there are 115 known mortalities (CPW 2009). The cause of death is unknown for a third of these, but the
two leading known causes of mortality are starvation and being hit by a vehicle. Speed has been identified
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