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eh <br />ESPEY, HUSTON 8 ASSOCIATES, INC. <br />r 1 <br />L_J <br />(G-Seam) Mine protal. Sagebrush covers the eastern perimeter of the lazge meadow <br />and ponds. <br />Wildlife use patterns in the four vegetation communities vary with the <br />seasons. The meadow grasslands, with their numerous seeps, springs, and stock <br />ponds, support the highest number of birds in the summer due to high productivity <br />and the least number in winter due to heavy snow and cold air drainage. The two <br />vegetation communities which provide the greatest year-round stability for birds <br />and mammals aze the pockets of aspen in drainages on the high north-facing slopes <br />and the mountain shrub community with its oak and seroiceberry which cover the <br />north-facing ridges. These two habitats provide cover and food resource through the <br />yeaz. The least used vegetation community for birds is the sagebrush, a habitat <br />which supports the highest concentrations of rodents and domestic livestock and the <br />lowest concentration of big game. The ripazian-sage habitat, due to its location <br />along awell-used state highway and its limited extent, is not an area of consequence <br />for wildlife, with the exception of the ungulates which use it as a corridor. <br />• <br />3.3 MAMMALS <br />Sixty-seven mammals have been reported from the northwestern section <br />of Colorado (Table L-1). Twenty-one of these mammals plus two species of <br />domestic livestock aze known to occur on the mine plan area. Their abundance by <br />habitat associations and their residenry status aze compiled in Table L-2. <br />The greatest abundance of mammals seen on a transect occurred in <br />sagebrush habitat. This was due to the high abundance of Richazdson's ground <br />squirrels (Spermophilus richazdsonii) and domestic sheep (Ovis azies). The sagebrush <br />habitat also supported the fewest mammal species, while the open meadow habitat <br />supported the most species and the lowest mammal abundance based on transects <br />and trapping. <br />r, <br />U <br />L-14 <br />