PERMFILE52325 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• i AMERICAN SODA, L.L.P. WILDLIFE MITIGATION PLAN SAGE GROUSE Recent studies show that sage grouse numbers are low in that portion of the Piceance Basin in which activities associated with the Yankee Gulch Sodium Minerals Project (Yankee Gulch Project) will occur. These data and observations by the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) indicate that suitable habitat for sage grouse is low at the Piceance Site, the area of the proposed solution mining operations. However, data collected during these studies, as well as previous observations made by CDOW and BLM biologists, show that sage grouse do use Barnes Ridge, one of the areas in which pipeline construction will occur, and other adjacent ridges for breeding, nesting, and brood rearing activities. Known leks and nesting and brood rearing habitat occur along the proposed Yankee Gulch i'•oject pipeline corridor on Barnes Ridge. Based on 2 years of studies conducted by the CDOW, there are two known sage grouse leks that could possibly be affected by the proposed action. A third lek, which is situated approximately 1.5 miles east of the pipeline corridor near the Greasewood Compressor Station, is not expected to be affected by pipeline construction. The Stewart Gulch lek is located on Barnes Ridge in the SW 1/4 NE 1/4 Section 3, T4S, R96W, within an existing pipeline corridor. Data collected during the last 2 years show that male attendance is very low, with only one male observed on the lek in 1998. Although this lek has had very low attendance in the last 2 years, it is active, and the CDOW believes that use may increase over time. Thus, this lek remains potentially important to the Piceance Creek Basin sage grouse population. Other "satellite leks" have also been identified south of the Stewart Gulch lek on Barnes Ridge, but CDOW data indicate that these leks have not been active in the last 2 years. The Bragg Spring lek has been identified by the CDOW in SWl/4 SEl/4 Section 21, T4S, R96W. The lek is located approximately 1.5 miles from the southernmost point of the pipeline corridor on Barnes Ridge, which is within CDOW's 2-mile buffer zone where development activities are normally restricted during the sage grouse breeding, nesting, and brood rearing seasons. At that point, in Section 15, T4S, R96W, the pipeline route turns east and crosses a drainage and then turns south on the ridge and passes within approximately 1 mile of the Bragg Spring lek. There are two drainages between the pipeline and the lek at that point, and the lek is down slope from the ridgetop and out of sight of the pipeline. Wildlife Mitigation Plan 2-1 Yankee Gulch Sodium Minerals Project Amencan Soda, L.L.P.