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on the area's perimeter. Dominant vegetation was <br />agricultural fields, some planted in wheat and oats, but <br />most were fallowed this year. Drainages flowing generally <br />eastward dissectetl 'the fields and supported mixtures of <br />grass and sagebrush with bulrush, cattail, and marsh grasses <br />in the tailwaters of numerous small stock ponds. These <br />drainages emptied into Fish Creek which was considered a <br />riparian vegetation type although it lacked trees and was <br />primarily grass with sagebrush in dry sections of the <br />alluvium. Some upland ridges and valleys were uncultivated <br />and supported a sagebrush-grass vegetation type. <br />Roads in the study area were mostly unimproved, used mainly <br />by the farmers to access their fields. One road paralleling <br />Foidel Creek in the southeast portion of the study area was <br />being widened into a haul road. Denver and Rio Grande coal <br />trains passed through the park daily. <br />METHODS <br />Locating sandhill crane nest sites was done using a single, <br />engine, fixed-wing aircraft, four-wheel drive vehicles, and <br />hiking throughout Twentymile Park. The nest searches were <br />initiated in late May and concluded in late June after the <br />chicks were hatched. The nest location and number of cranes <br />were mapped on 7.5 min USGS topo maps. <br />In August there was a need to determine the cranes response <br />to drilling activities along Fish Creek, specifically in <br />6 <br />