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42,04 APPLICATION FOR PERMIT FOR SURFACE OR IINDERGROUND MINING ACTIVITIES -- <br />MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES. <br />• 2.04,11 Fish and Wildlife Resources Information. (Cont'd.) <br />(1) (Cont'd,) <br />Variable use of the area is also illustrated by the amount of <br />use determined through annual transects conducted by the local <br />Wildlife Conservation Officer on the study area. The deer use <br />per acre indicator varied from highs of about fifty in 1970, <br />' 71, ' 72 and ' 76, to locos of 11 and 16 in 1974 and 1973. <br />Utilization of broo-=se food plants in some years reached 70 <br />percent, while in others it was below ten percent. <br />It is evident that the study area is part of a winter range <br />for deer and elk in Game Management Unit 521. The big game <br />animals in this unit provide the base for much recreational <br />hunting as well over ten thousand hunter days per year are now <br />spent here. During winters of heavy snow, large numbers of <br />deer and elk move on to the lower elevation ranges (including <br />the study area) from distances up to 10-15 miles. Although <br />the Lease C-27432 area (854 acres) extended into the study <br />area, little or no additional impact on wildlife was expect- <br />ed, <br />• The Bureau of Land Management in their final environmental im- <br />pact statement of the Uintah-Southwestern Utah Coal Region <br />- (U. S. D.O. I., SLM, 1983), stated that approximately 50% of the <br />Lease C-37210 area is crucial deer and elk winter range. The <br />remaining area is considered intermediate. Winter big game <br />densities are estimated to be 186 deer per square mile and 22 <br />elk per square mile within the proposed permit area, based on <br />pellet group counts done by the the BL+i, the Division of Wild- <br />life, and G~dI (U.S.D,O,I., BLPt, 1983), Actual densities vary <br />with the severity of the winter, <br />Densities of black bear and mountain lion within the permit <br />area are unknown. Black bear densities fluctuate seasonally. <br />The bear typically feed in oak brush during August in prepara- <br />tion for hibernation, Mountain lion densities probably fluc- <br />tuate with the densities of the deer, their primary prey <br />(U. S. D. O. I,, BL?t, 1983), <br />Though bald eagles occasionally utilize areas of the North <br />Fork of the Gunnison Valley, no known roost sites have been <br />identified within or adjacent to the permit area, Also, no <br />known habitat for threatened or endangered wildlife species <br />exists on or adjacent to the permit area (U.S.D.O.I., BLM, <br />1983). <br />Revised 08J01/84 <br />Revised 10/12/86 <br />Revised 10/01(87 <br />86 <br />