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<br />CHAPTERTHREE Affected Environment <br />may occur at reservoirs, mudflats and sandy shorelines. Recorded occurrences for Western <br />snowy plover aze limited to 10 sightings involving 14 individuals at Rio Blanco Lake. These <br />sightings have all occurred between April 22 and May 22, with appearances 5 of the last 6 years <br />(Hollowed 1998). Long-billed curlew is a rare spring and fall migrant in western Colorado; <br />recorded sightings are limited to flue records at Rio Blanco Lake. <br />3.10.2 Plants <br />Special status plant species known or potentially present in the study azea are shown in Table <br />' 3.10-] . The study area for special status plants is the Project Area plus a one mile buffer zone for <br />the pipeline corridor, Special status plants include federal listed and candidate endangered and <br />threatened species, BLM sensitive species, and those considered raze by the Colorado Natural <br />Heritage Program (CNHP). Botanical surveys of the Piceance Site and the northern 8 miles of <br />the pipeline were conducted in 1498 (Young and Young 1998). Information on occurrence of <br />special status species for the remainder of the Project Area is from the CNHP database (CNHP <br />1998). <br />Federal Endangered and Threatened Species <br />Dudley Bluffs bladderpod and Dudley Bluffs rivinpod. Two threatened plant species occur at <br />the Piceance Site: Dudley Bluffs bladderpod and Dudley Bluffs twinpod. Both are small <br />perennial herbs in [he mustard family, that are endemic to the Piceance Basin. Dudley Bluffs <br />bladderpod (Lesquerella congesta) is restricted to exposures of the Thirteenmile Creek Tongue <br />of the Green River Formation, where it occurs on knolls and ridge crests along Piceance Creek <br />I and Yellow Creek and their tributaries on slopes generally less than 15 percent (BLM 1994). <br />Physario obcordata (Dudley Bluffs or Piceance twinpod) is also restricted to exposures of the <br />Thirteenmile Creek Tongue of the Green River Formation, where it occurs in barren, loose scree <br />on slopes generally greater than 20 percent, and to exposures of the Parachute Creek member of <br />~ ~ the Green River Formation west of Calamity Ridge, where it occurs in barren, loose scree on <br />slopes with southerly or southwesterly aspects. <br />Surveys for these two species were conducted in 1995, 1996, and 1998 and covered the entire <br />Piceance Site and the eight miles of new pipeline corridor from the Piceance Site to the <br />' Greasewood Compressor Station. Two populations of Dudley Bluffs bladderpod were found in <br />or near the lease area. One of the populations in the southeast quarter of Section 17, is mostly <br />within the proposed year 15-20B mining panel. The other is in an area where no development is <br />planned. Six populations of Dudley Bluffs twinpod were found on or adjacent to the Piceance <br />Site in Section 29, all along Horse Draw and occupying a total of 15 acres. One population <br />overlaps the Year 5-10A Mining Panel, and a second is located immediately adjacent and <br />downhill from this mining panel. All of the populations in Section 29 are within the boundaries <br />of the Ryan Gulch Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), which was established to <br />protect these species. Neither species was found along the pipeline corridor. <br />The Parachute penstemon (Penstemon debilis) is a federal candidate species that occurs on <br />steep, spazsely vegetated white shale talus of the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River <br />formation, at 8,000 to 9,000 feet (Spackman et al. 1997). It is not known to be present, but could <br />Threatened and Endangered Species 3-43 <br />