_REVISION - M1981302 ‎(122)‎

• Permit No: M1981302
• IBM Index Class Name: Revision
• Doc Name: AFFIDAVIT OF ROBERT E STOECKER PH D
• Type & Sequence: AM2
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

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AFFMAVIT OF ROBERT E, STOECKER, Ph.D.
STATE OF COLORADO )
u.
CITY AND COUNTY OF BOULDER )
Robert E. Stoecker, Ph.D., being first duly sworn upon oath, does depose and stare as
follows:
1. I am the principal of Stoecker Ecological Consultants, Inc., at 279 Forest Lane, in
Boulder, Colorado.
2. The Preble's jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius prebki) is a subspecies that was
recently classified by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as "proposed endangered" and,
as of March 25, 1997, is protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16
U.S.C. ¢$ 1531 ra vgL).
3. I have boon asked by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to assist in the
evaluation of the endangerment of the Preble's jumping mouse and I am a member of this federal
agency's Preble's jumping mouse Work Group and Advisory Team.
4. My experience with the Preble's jumping mouse dates back to my Masters and
Ph.D. thesis work (1965-69), and more recently to a large mtmber of live trapping studies
conducted slong Colorado's Front Range to assess the abundance, distribution, and habitat
affi dtim of the Preble's jumping mouse.
5. Preble's jumping mice are most oft a found in mesic vegetation occurring in moist,
lowland meadows, and in riparian habitats with shrubby vegetation such as dense willow shrub
or snowberry. In addition, Preble'a jumping mice ate more likely to be found in those areas
riparian to running watercourses like creeks, streams, irrigation ditches, and other drainages
rather than ponds and lakes since, by comparison, vegetation around non-running surface water
can be thin and somewhat wady. These conditions are not preferred by the Preble's jumping
mouse.
6. The reduction of su rtice water in Western Mobile's reclamation plan amendment
for the Deepe Farm Pit will not reduce Pmble's jumping mouse habitat. Areas along Internal
surface water drainage channels on the reclaimed site may in fact increase the type of habitat in
which the Preble's jurnping mouse is normally found.
7. Preble's jumping mice typically occupy small home ranges, spending their lives
within an area of several scres or leas. For this reason, the reclaimed condition of the Deepe
Parm Pit site under the proposed amendment is unlilrely to have any affect on Preble's jumping
mice that may inhabit properties adjacent to the pit. In fact, the creation of habitat on the
WMI
EXHIBIT NO.22