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• DESCRIPTION OF AQUATIC HABITAT <br />An approximately 2500-foot stretch of Hubberson Gulch cuts through the southwest <br />corner of the expansion area in Section 34 (Figure 1). In that reach, Hubberson Gulch is a <br />small, perennial stream. The channel is quite narrow, mostly less than 3 feet in width. A <br />string of several beaver ponds provide the only slow/ponded water habitat along this reach. <br />Beaver ponds are also found along approximately one-quarter mile of an unnamed tributary <br />drainage in NW'/a SW'/a Section 26 and NE'/a SE'/a Section 27. Considerable sign of current <br />beaver activity was noted along that drainage. <br />Beaver ponds on the expansion area ranged from tiny (less than 12 feet across) to <br />sizeable (roughly 50 feet across). Most were intermediate in size. It appeared that some of <br />the older beaver ponds had been modified by man (minor dredging, dam reinforcement) at <br />some time in the past to enhance their function as stockponds. All beaver ponds had <br />silty/muddy substrates, with variable cover by aquatic and emergent vegetation (see <br />photographs, Appendix I). Shorelines of beaver ponds were quite steep in places, but well- <br />vegetated. Surrounding habitat was principally mountain brush and sagebrush/snowberry. <br />• Water was clear to very slightly murky in all beaver ponds during the three surveys. <br />Several man-made stockponds were found in draws, and on an upland saddle area at the <br />border of SW'/a SE'/a Section 27 and NW'/a NE'/a Section 34. The latter ponds were the <br />largest, but all stockponds were relatively shallow. stockponds vary in size depending upon <br />annual precipitation, and may evaporate completely in dry years. The surrounding habitats <br />were western wheatgrass/alkalai sagebrush, sagebtvsh/snowberry, and occasionally aspen. <br />The shorelines of these ponds were mostly flat; most were moderately grazed and trampled by <br />elk and, later in spring, cattle. Pond bottoms are silt/clay. The water in most ponds was <br />slightly murky on the first survey, and completely opaque during the second and third surveys. <br />FAUNAL OBSERVATIONS <br />The only amphibians noted during the surveys were chorus frogs. During the first and <br />second surveys, very small numbers of chorus frogs were heard calling in stockponds and <br />beaver ponds. Only a few frogs were heard along the entire surveyed reach of Hubberson <br />• <br />Seneca II-W South Expansion <br />1999 Boreal Toad Survey Page 5 <br />