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MMRR Quarry, M-2004-067 Response to June 30 Adequacy Review (as amended) August 19, 2005 Page 16 Exhibit H -Wildlife Information 39. The applicant has specified that they have contacted the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to verify that no state and federal threatened or endangered species or any other species of special concern reside on the proposed quarry site or in its vicinity. Please provide any written correspondence you may have from representatives of either agency which verifies this assertion. With regard to the Division's comment above, the applicant's representative has contacted both the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on multiple occasions. As stated in the adequacy response letter of March 23, 2005, both agencies were contacted prior to that time, to confirm information indicating the absence of threatened, endangered, and other species of special conservation concern on the site and in its vicinity. Though no written correspondence was received from CDOW, a detailed phone conversation took place on February 16, 2005. That conversation with the Black Hawk District Manager revealed that the agency was not aware of particular threatened or endangered species or species of special concern on the project site and that the agency would not expect to find any of those species on the project site. We have attempted to contact CDOW again for comment on this matter, in a letter of August 11, 2005 (attached). We have not heard from the CDOW to date; any future correspondence will be forwarded to the DMG. fn February 2005, the USFWS responded to inquiries from the applicant's representative by forwarding to us a matrix (attached) showing potential presence of threatened and endangered (and candidate) species on a countywide basis. Three species on this matrix have potential habitat in Gilpin County generally. However, based on such features as a lack of perennial water, and open canopy to no canopy, none of these three species (the Mexican Spotted Owl, the Canada Lynx, and the Boreal Toad) has suitable nesting or breeding habitat on the proposed quarry site. A lack of net water depletions under final permitted conditions indicates no effect on other species noted in the matrix for Gilpin County. We contacted the USFWS again in a letter of August 11, 2005 (attached) and discussed this letter and the project by phone on August 15, 2005 with Peter Plage of the USFWS. Mr. Plage commented that nothing about the site and its vicinity indicates that threatened or endangered species would be present. The Mexican Spotted Owl exists as far north as Gilpin County in theory, Mr. Plage noted, but on records has not been known to breed any farther north than Ft. Carson near Colorado Springs. The Canada Lynx resides in higher elevations, primarily Spruce-Fir forest, according to Mr. Plage, and has no known presence in the part of Gilpin County near the MMRR Quarry. The Boreal Toad breeds in wet conditions, and the dry, ephemeral drainages of the site are unlikely to