GENERAL55787

• Permit No: M1999002
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 8/18/1998
• Doc Name: COMMERCIAL MINE PLAN SUBMITTED TO BLM SECTION 8
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

with their reclamation would include the placement of natural materials (i.e., slash
• or rocks) within the roadways, as directed by BLM, to preclude future motorized
vehicle travel.
Impacts to mule deer from construction of the pipeline corridor could occur in two
ways. First would be disturbance to mule deer populations during construction of
the pipelines. However, although much of the northern half of the pipeline
corridor, as well as the pipeline corridor reach in the Parachute Creek valley bottom,
is winter range, mule deer do not use the area near the pipeline corridor heavily
during the mid-summer Quly) to early fall (September) construction window.
Therefore, construction of the pipeline would have minimal impacts to mule deer
due to its timing.
The second type of impact would be the long-term change in habitat types that
would occur from construction of the pipeline corridor. At 44 miles long and 75 feet
wide, the corridor will occupy a total of about 400 acres. However, a much smaller
area will actually be disturbed by pipeline installation or otherwise by creation of
construction access routes and laydown areas. In addition, most of the proposed
pipeline corridor (approximately 38 miles) would be located along an existing
corridor that has previously altered the habitat types along this reach from primarily
sagebrush and pinyon-juniper types to grass. Finally, the topography of the
proposed pipeline corridor is restrictive in several locations (e.g., Collins Gulch and
Davis Point), requiring that the pipeline corridor width be less than 75 feet along
such reaches. Therefore, the maximum change in overall habitat types along the
pipeline corridor would likely be substantially less than 400 acres. This is considered
to be relatively minor compared to the total mule deer habitat in the Project Area,
which includes large portions of the Piceance Creek and Parachute Creek
watersheds.
Impacts to mule deer at the Parachute Site would be minor because the preferred
Parachute Site is already developed, and no significant habitat alterations would
occur as a result of additional development of the site. In addition, the area
surrounding the preferred Parachute Site is generally limited to mule deer winter
range, and plant operations are not expected to be detrimental to wintering
populations. Noise, lighting, and general activity at the preferred site may result in
very minor displacement of deer. This displacement is expected to be less than any
displacement that was associated with the larger previous operation by Unocal.
Some impacts will occur as a result of increased mortality from vehicle/deer
collisions once the Parachute Site is operating. A study of mule deer road kill
mortality on Garfield County Road 215 (Parachute Creek Road) in the early 1980s
indicated that average mule deer kills were approximately 55 animals per year from
1980 through 1983 when the Unocal oil shale plant was in operation (ACOE 1985).
Impacts at the Parachute Site are estimated to be less than under Unocal's operations
because fewer vehicles will be in use on Parachute Creek Road (fewer employees),
. and, at the preferred site, a shorter section of Parachute Creek Road would be used
for this project compared with when the Unocal oil shale plant was in operation.
American Soda, L.L, P. 8_22
Commercial Mine Plan
Augur[ ]8, 1998