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Biological Assessment for DMG Permit Renewals McClane Canyon & Munger Canyon Mines <br />surface disturbance are planned as part of the proposed actions, no impacts to the species will <br />occur. <br />Grand buckwheat (S) occurs on Mancos Shale badlands, with shadscale and other salt desert <br />shrub communities, at elevations between 4,500 and 5,100 feet (CRPTC 1999). An occurrence <br />or occurrences have been documented in Section 31, approximately 1.5 miles southwest of the <br />intersection of The Munger access road and Colorado Highway 139 (CNHP 2005). Because <br />Grand buckwheat does not occur in the assessment areas, the proposed actions will have no <br />effect. <br />Parachute beardtonoue (C) is known only from oil shale talus outcrops of the Parachute Creek <br />Member of the Green River Formation (Wolfe 1998) or shale screes of the Piceance Basin <br />(Weber & Wittmann 2001). No Green River Formation-derived soils are mapped in the <br />assessment areas (Figure 3). No documented occurrences of Parachute beardtongue occur in <br />or near the assessment areas (CNHP 2005), therefore, no impacts to the species from the <br />proposed actions will occur. <br />6 CUMULATIVE EFFECTS <br />This BA is required to consider cumulative effects of future state, tribal, local or private actions <br />that are reasonably certain to occur in the assessment areas. Future federal actions that are <br />unrelated to the proposed actions are not considered in this section because they require <br />separate consultation pursuant to Section 7 of the ESA. <br />Cumulative impacts on listed species and their habitats from multiple uses may be more <br />significant than individual impacts of any single project. Other sources of human impacts in or <br />near the assessment areas include hunting, camping, all-terrain vehicle travel, nature study, <br />biking, hiking, livestock grazing, firewood gathering, transmission line maintenance, irrigation <br />ditch and reservoir maintenance, state highway use and maintenance, and coal exploration <br />activities on private in-holdings. <br />Each of these activities may alter vegetation structure, affect water quality, or influence wildlife <br />by human disturbance. However, because the areas of permitted surface disturbance at the <br />project areas are small, and because listed species are either absent or rare in the project <br />areas, the proposed actions are unlikely to contribute significantly to cumulative impacts to any <br />listed species in the region. <br />7 DETERMINATIONS <br />The following subsections summarize this BA's determinations of effect of the proposed actions <br />(McClane Canyon Mine and Munger Canyon Mine DMG permit renewals) on the continued <br />existence of evaluated species and on critical habitat, if designated or proposed. Species <br />accounts and backup narratives are presented in Section 5 of this BA. <br />7.1 Determinations for Federally-Listed Species <br />No Effect <br />Based on lack of suitable habitat in the assessment areas or lack of critical habitat in the <br />assessment areas, the proposed actions will have no effect on the following federally-listed <br />species or designated or proposed critical habitat: <br />March 27, 2006 16 Rare Earth Science, LLC <br />