PERMFILE48738

• Permit No: C1981026
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Doc Name: FISH & WILDLIFE RESOURCES INFORMATION
• Section_Exhibit Name: APPENDIX G
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

• Nesting habitat is usually typified by areas
with a moderate coverage (>15$) sagebrush within 3 km
of a lek. Wallestad and Pyrah (1974) reported a mean
canopy cover of 27~ over successful nests in Montana.
Klebenow (1969) stated that dense stands of sagebrush
with little understory were not used for nesting.
Ten nests were located in the EMRIA sage grouse
study in 1980. Distances from a lek ranged from 0.3 -
7.8 km. Two nests were found near the lease area -
one just east of the Canadian Strip Mine pit area,
and another 0.9 km NNW of the Perdiz lek, along the
western boundary of the lease area. The hen nesting
near the mine pit was known to have attended "Raven"
lek, about 8 km north of the lease area.
Brooding habitat is usually typified by areas with
sparse, if any, sagebrush cover, where succulent forbs
are abundant. In a typical study, Peterson (1970)
• found that insects comprised the bulk of the diet of
week-old sage grouse. Subsequently, succulent forbs
were consumed with increasing frequency. Big sagebrush
received little use until 11 weeks of age. Adult sage
grouse may consume big sagebrush year-round, but may
prefer forbs in summer when they are available.
Typically, broods occupy areas adjacent to
nesting habitat shortly after hatching, provided insects
and succulent forbs are abundant. As forbs begin to
cure in early to mid-summer, the broods move to wetter
areas supporting succulent vegetation, often entering
farmland and meadows.
This pattern has been verified by the EMRIA study.
The aforementioned two hens and their broods moved a
considerable distance from nesting habitat to meadows
along the Michigan River as the summer progressed.
Eng and Schladweiler (1972) described winter habitat
as large expanses of dense sagebrush on land having
•
little slope.
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