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Natural Resources Assessment <br />P125 Gravel Mine - Southwest of State Highway 66 and County Road 17 <br />Weld County, Colorado <br /> <br />ERO Project #24-180 12 <br />ERO Resources Corporation <br />Platte River. If the project includes activities that deplete water in the South Platte River, such as <br />diverting water from a stream or developing new water supplies, these species could be affected by the <br />project and consultation with the Service may be required. <br />Threatened and Endangered Species Habitat <br />Eastern Black Rail <br />Species Background <br />The eastern black rail was listed as a threatened species on October 8, 2020 under the ESA (see Federal <br />Register Vol. 85, No. 196:63764-63803) by the Service. The eastern black rail ranges throughout central <br />and eastern North America and south through the Caribbean and Brazil. This species has been <br />documented along the Arkansas River drainage in southeastern Colorado and the Republican River in <br />east-central Colorado. Threats include habitat fragmentation and conversion resulting in the loss of <br />wetland habitats; sea level rise and tidal flooding; land management practices (e.g., incompatible fire <br />management practices, grazing, and haying/mowing and other mechanical treatment activities); and <br />increasing storm intensity and frequency. There are no exact counts of eastern black rail populations at <br />the present time; therefore, analysis units based on habitat have been identified across the United <br />States. Colorado is included in the Great Plains analysis unit (Service 2019). <br />The eastern black rail is dependent on wetland and marsh habitat that contains a mix of wet, saturated, <br />and some dry edges around the periphery. The subspecies requires dense overhead cover and soils that <br />are moist to saturated (occasionally dry) and interspersed with or adjacent to very shallow water <br />(Service 2019). In Colorado, the eastern black rail has been documented in cattail/bulrush marshes and <br />near pond edges. Along the Republican River in northeastern Colorado and western Kansas, the species <br />has been documented in riparian habitat (U.S. Air Force Academy 2020). <br />Suitable Habitat and Effects <br />The project area contains herbaceous PEM wetland habitat (W5) east of St. Vrain Creek that would be <br />considered suitable for the eastern black rail. However, the Service currently only considers the <br />Arkansas River drainage part of the breeding range for eastern black rails and does not consider the <br />South Platte River drainage within the black rail’s breeding range (Beane and Salamack 2021). Based on <br />current knowledge of the black rail’s distribution, there would be no effects on the species, and no <br />further action is necessary. <br />Recommendations <br />Should new information become available that expands the known breeding range of the eastern black <br />rail, future consultation with the Service may be required.