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• s The Yankee Gulch Project will result in some indirect habitat losses associated with • animal disturbance from construction and operation of the commercial solution mining facilities. Disturbance of animals during the construction phase would be related to construction of the initial suite of solution mining wells necessary for process startup, with construction of the road and piping networks for the first 5- year mining panel, with construction of the processing facilities themselves, and with well drilling-related and materials delivery-related traffic and construction- related commuter traffic into and out of the Piceance Site. During initial construction, including construction of the processing facilities, there will be a considerable amount of traffic, human activity, and associated noise. It is likely that mule deer will be temporarily displaced from the construction area for a substantial distance, e.g., from 0.5 to 1 mile from the construction activities. The initial construction period at the Piceance Site is anticipated to be about 15 months in duration. Long-term activities will be associated with ongoing development of additional solution mining wells and with well drilling-related traffic and operations-related commuter traffic into and out of the Piceance Site. Traffic will probably constitute the most important disturbance of animals throughout the life of the commercial mine. This traffic will occur primarily along approximately 1 mile of road following the west side of Piceance Creek (approximately one-half mile on BLM land within the Piceance Site and one-half mile on CDOW property) plus less than 0.7 mile of Piceance Site access road and along approximately 1.5 miles of new access road from the existing Horse Draw Road up to the Piceance Site processing facility area. Construction traffic for the commercial phase is projected to range from 3 to 92 commuter trips per day in cars and light trucks and 17 to 33 truck trips per day for delivery of equipment and supplies over the 1- to 2-year construction period (Kvaerner 19988). Traffic will be intermittent throughout the day. Over the operating life of the commercial mine, vehicle traffic would consist of about 37 commuter trips and 14 materials and vendor truck trips per day to the Piceance Site. Some mortality of mule deer will result from vehicle/deer collisions with this level of traffic. To minimize the number of collisions, American Soda will implement the following measures: • monitor the number of deer/vehicle collisions resulting from normal operations traffic to assess the level of mortality and the potential to reduce collisions; • maintain an active awareness program and address deer/vehicle collisions in employee orientation and training programs; • establish a policy that allows disciplinary action, up to and including termination, against any employee that needlessly harasses wildlife or purposefully attempts to kill wildlife, other than in accordance with state Amencan Soda. L.L.P. 8_ZQ Commercial Mine Plan August 18, 1998