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<br />Mr. Gregg Squire 2 May 4, 1987 <br />Colo. Mined Land Reclamation Division <br />369.2 acres needed, out c <br />Table 2. Thus the entire <br />mining and returned to elk <br />shrubs of any kind and <br />Trapper's proposal is not <br />wildlife habitat. <br />f an available 23,075 acres of winter elk range, <br />4,650 estimated acres of lands to be disturbed by <br />winter range and domestic grazing could not receive <br />not affect needed available elk winter range. <br />based on this, however, but rather will enhance <br />Trapper proposes shrub reestablishment areas on 25Z of the area of those <br />reclaimed acres returned to a multiple land use of big game wildlife habitat <br />and domestic grazing. The total size of each shrub establishment area will be <br />about 11.5 acres, Table 3, Figure 1. Of this area, 1.6 acres would be the <br />mature shrub clump for which a density standard is proposed above. The stan- <br />dard for the remaining 9.9-acre area would be at least 661 stems per acre. <br />There would be no shrub standard for areas outside the shrub reestablishment <br />areas. <br />With these shrub density standards, the 4,650 acres of reclaimed lands alone <br />would provide sufficient winter forage for 51.6 elk, which is proportional to <br />the historic elk herd averaged over the entire survey area.. The other 18,425 <br />acres in the survey area provide sufficient winter forage to support 26,163 <br />elk (one acre of that area could support 1.42 elk on the basis of winter <br />forage alone). Thus, the combined 23,075-acre survey area would provide <br />winter forage vastly exceeding the need of the historic winter elk herd (see <br />Table 3 for calculations). <br />The proposed standard establishes a level of winter shrub Forage which is in <br />proportion to the historic use. It also optimizes both wildlife habitat for <br />cover and leaves ample acres for domestic sheep and cattle grazing. <br />Gregg, I believe the above proposal is both reasonable from a big game cover <br />standpoint and domestic livestock grazing use, and addresses use by elk during <br />winter months. <br />I hope this puts the issue to bed. <br />Best regards, <br />H. Bruce Humphries <br />Sr. Environmental Engineer <br />HBH/jb <br />Enclosure <br />pc~~ Banta, CMLRD <br />R.L. Fan yo, WDB6T <br />L.W. Henderson <br />file <br />