REV103458

• Permit No: C1980004
• IBM Index Class Name: Revision
• Doc Date: 4/3/2006
• Doc Name: Completeness Letter & Enclosures
• From: DMG
• To: OSM
• Type & Sequence: TR15
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Biological Assessment for DMG Permit Renewals McClane Canyon & Munger Canyon Mines
INTRODUCTION
Rare Earth Science, LLC (Rare Earth) has prepared this draft Biological Assessment (BA) at the
request of J.E. Stover & Associates, Inc., engineering and environmental consultants to CAM
Mining LLC (CAM). CAM holds the following Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG)
Coal Mining Permits in Garfield County, Colorado:
• McClane Canvon Mine DMG Permit No. C-1980-004, issued July 6, 2001, expiring July
6, 2006.
• Munger Canvon Mine DMG Permit No. C-1981-020, issued January 13, 2003, expiring
January 13, 2008.
This BA was prepared in accordance with legal requirements set forth under Section 7 of the
U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended ("ESA") to review the proposed renewal of
the McClane Canyon Mine DMG Permit and the future renewal of the Munger Canyon Mine
DMG Permit ("proposed actions") in sufficient detail to determine to what extent they may affect
species listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA. This BA also evaluates the effects
of the proposed actions on species that are candidates for official listing under the ESA, species
considered sensitive by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grand Junction Field
Office (the surface owner of the Mine Permit areas), and Colorado State species of concern.
Although candidates for federal listing or species recognized as sensitive by the State or by the
BLM presently have no legal protection under the ESA, it is prudent and customary to consider
impacts to these species because of the possibility that one or more could become listed prior to
the time that the proposed actions are complete.
The following 8federally-listed endangered (E) or threatened (T) species are considered by this
BA':
1. Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) -T
2. Bonytail (Gila elegans) - E
3. Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) - T
4. Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius) - E
5. Humpback chub (Gila cypha) - E
6. Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) -T
7. Razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) - E
8. Uinta Basin hookless cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus) -T
Candidate' species (C), BLM sensitive speciesZ (S), and Colorado State species of concern3
(SC) potentially affected by the proposed actions and considered by this BA are
1. Big free-tailed bat (Nyctinomops macrotis) - S
2. De Beque phacelia (Phacelia submutica) - C
3. Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) - S, SC
4. Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) - S
5. Grand buckwheat (Eriogonum contortum) - S
Endangered, threatened, and candidate species were recommended for consideration in this BA in a January 17,
2006 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service letter to Colorado Division of Minerals & Geology (Pfister 2006).
' BLM sensitive species were recommended by the BLM's Grand Junction Field Office (Lincoln pers. comm.;
Moynahan, pers. comm.).
' From Colorado Division of Wildlife's Threatened and Endangered List (CDOW 2006a).
March 27, 2006 1 Rare Earfh Science,