2018-08-08_PERMIT FILE - C1982056A (11)

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Mass Transit System Analysis and Big Game Road-Kill Monitoring Plan As discussed in the previous section, at least certain segments of the access road and haul road proposed for the Foidel Creek Mine pass in close proximity to portions of big game winter concentration areas or critical winter range. Haul truck traffic will travel along existing County Roads No. 27 and No. 33, and haul truck traffic along these roads will be significantly increased by the proposed mine operation. The Fish Creek Borehole/Shaft access road will primarily follow existing dirt roads, although some widening and upgrading of the existing roads will be necessary (see Map 19, Elk Biological Features, and Map 20, Mule Deer Biological Features, for proposed road locations). Because of the proximity of these roads to mule deer and elk winter concentration areas and critical winter range, the CMLRD and wildlife regulatory agencies have raised the concern that with increased traffic levels on these roads, the incidence of vehicle/big game collisions could become significant. Related to this concern, the regulatory agencies have requested that TCC analyze the potential need for instituting a mass transit system for its employees using the Fish Creek Borehole/Shaft Area access road and develop a plan for monitoring big game road- kills along the haul road. This section will address these requests. In order to evaluate the potential need for a mass transit system, information on the actual or expected incidence of big game road-kills should be available. Since monitoring of road-kills has not previously occurred along county roads adjacent to the permit area, information on the expected incidence of big game road-kills are difficult to derive. However, certain inferences on the potential for road-kills can be made based on projected traffic levels for the mine, a general knowledge of the numbers of distribution of elk and mule deer near the areas of concern, and previous road-kill studies. Coal haul truck and employee automobile access traffic levels projected for the Foidel Creek Mine are provided on Table 44, Truck Haulage, and Table 45, Auto Access Traffic. Peak haul truck traffic would occur in 1987 with 90 loads per day or approximately one haul load on the road every fifteen minutes. Return travel by empty trucks would double these numbers. The auto access traffic levels are based on each employee driving his own vehicle. These levels would be reduced significantly by car-pooling. The current level of car-pooling by TCC personnel is approximately two employees for each car. If this trend continues during development and operation of the Foidel Creek Mine, a 50 percent reduction in automobile access traffic would be realized. Peak automobile access traffic would occur in 1992 at 397 round trips per day and remain constant until 2015. If one assumes car-pooling would occur at the rate of two people for each car, the maximum access traffic level would be reduced to approximately 200 round-trips per day. In 2016, total daily traffic on RCR27 was approximately 835 vehicles (all types) per day, with 510 being passenger vehicles, 295 being commercial trucks, and 30 being coal haul trucks. Shift changes for the access traffic are expected at 7:00 am, 3:00 pm, and 11:00 am. However,there is a possibility that each of these changes may be modified. The amount of access traffic for each shift change during peak traffic years (1992-2015) would be approximately 278, 278, and 238 cars on the access road around the time of each 7:00 am, 3:00 pm, 11:00 am shift change, respectively. These members would be halved if two-for-one car-pooling occurs. The total magnitude of elk and mule deer migration through the permit area and use of critical winter range in the permit area has not been well documented. General observations made by Terrell Johnson (the Applicant's wildlife biologist) during aerial surveys for the general area indicate that the greatest numbers (400-500) of elk occur in Twentymile park during migration in late fall and early winter. As winter progresses and snow levels in the park increase, most of these animals move on to wintering areas to the west of the permit area, although some remain in critical winter range on the permit area (see Map 19, Elk Biological Features). There is less known concerning the migration of mule deer through Twentymile park, but numbers of migrating mule deer in the park are thought to be significantly less than those observed for elk. In the spring, elk migrate back to summer ranges, but not as many are observed passing through the permit area due to their tendency to stay along the mountain shrub zones along the perimeter of the park. A summer population of elk also resides in the foothills along the RN 17-07 2.04-76 02/15/18