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• and can be expected to continue occurring on this site as tt does on other areas such as inclusions of <br />croplands. The sage-grass stte does not provide hiding or thermal cover to big game. Sage grouse <br />populations in the area are very low and no known active leks for sage or sharp-tail grouse exist on or <br />near the mine plan area. <br />2) Range sites A and B, mountain shrub types, will be returned to spring-summer-tall mule deer habitat <br />and elk winter habttat wtth consideration for spring and fall livestock grazing and year-round water- <br />shed management. <br />Shrubs will be reestablished on range sites A and B in clumps approximately 1.6 acres in size. Since <br />critical deer winter range does not exist at Trapper Mine, the purpose of reestablished shrubs will be <br />to provide hiding and thermal cover to promote spring, summer, and fall use. These same shrub <br />clumps will provide thermal cover and forage to wintering elk. Shrub clump survival data is given in <br />Table 4.4-13. Mature shrub clumps will be considered successfully established upon verification that <br />at least 50°h of all transplanted shrub pads within a shrub clump each contain at least 10 live woody <br />stems. Shrub pads are defined as a single front-end-loader bucket load of native shrub stems that <br />are transplanted into a shrub clump situated in a reclaimed area. A shrub pad is removed by a front- <br />end-loader bucket below ground level such that native soil and root mass are included with the pad. <br />• 3) The distance between shrub clumps (across open forage areas) will not generally exceed 1,400 feet. <br />State regulations require that a permittee demonstrate shrub seedlings are viable and showing growth. <br />This will be demonstrated from density measurements. Shrubs that do not show evidence of life will not <br />be counted. No actual measurements of stem height or woody plant cover are necessary. Individuals <br />that are alive at the time of evaluating reclamation success, i.e. in the 10th year of liabildy will have <br />demonstrated vigor and production potential by virtue of the time elapsed. Further, palatable species <br />such as bitterbrush or mountain mahogany will probably be kept cropped back by grazing ungulates;' <br />precluding meaningful measurements of height and cover. <br />The goals of shrub re-establishment are to provide adequate wildlife cover and suttable forage, while <br />simultaneously maximizing the value of the land for livestock use. Section 4.6.2.1 provides a discussion <br />of shrub cover and forage as required by deer and elk. Appendix O includes a paper "Re-establishment <br />of Shrubs at the Trapper Mine" that provides a detailed discussion and justification for the shrub re- <br />establishment goals at Trapper Mine. <br />The shrub re-establishment standard far Trapper Mine on range sites A and B will be a minimum of 400 <br />live stems per acre. Part of this standard will be accomplished through the establishment of mature <br />shrub clumps as described earlier. As the clumps are approximately 1,400 feet apart, the clumps will <br />have an area of influence of neady 46 acres. A minimum of 250 mature shrub pads are transplanted in <br />• <br />4-116 Revision: M2-i~ 9 J <br />Approved: _ <br />