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• <br />4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION <br />4.1 INTRODUCTION <br />Baseline investigations indicate that 49 species of mammals, 198 species of <br />birds, 8 species of reptiles, and 4 species of amphibians have been <br />observed or are likely to occur within the Danforth Hills study area and <br />vicinity (Appendix A). Upland habitats provide the majority of wildlife <br />habitat within the study area and consist of aspen forest (1,321 ac), <br />mountain shrubland (5,151 ac), sagebrush shrubland (2,860 ac), <br />juniper-pinyon woodland (35 ac), and Douglas fir forest (4.4 ac). <br />Pastureland (92 ac), meadows (262 ac), and open water (streams and ponds) <br />constitute the less extensive lowland habitats (Harper and Associates 1985, <br />Table 4-1). Based on range inventories completed in 1979, OSM (1982) <br />estimated that annual production of forage in. the vicinity of the study <br />area ranges from 2,709 lb/ac (bottomland meadows) to 926 lb/ac (mountain <br />shrubland). Corresponding carrying capacity estimates for the area ranged <br />• from 1.5 animal unit months/acre (AUM/ac) to 0.4 AUM/ac (OSM 1982). <br />Cliff habitat is extremely limited in extent within the study area and <br />occurs primarily within the valley formed by the mainstem of Good Spring <br />Creek, north of the potentially affected area. Wetland habitats consist of <br />linear stands of palustrine emergent and scrub shrub vegetation along the <br />mainstem of Good Spring Creek and its West Fork tributaries, and along <br />Wilson Creek. Dead standing trees occur primarily in aspen forests of the <br />study area where their abundance is limited due to blow down and erosion, <br />both of which occur frequently throughout the area. No other special <br />habitat features were identified within the study area. Wildlife habitats <br />present within the study area are described in greater detail in Appendix <br />B. <br />4.2 GAME AND OTHER STATE-MANAGED SPECIES <br />The species composition and diversity of game species, predators, and <br />• furbearers within the study area are similar to other areas of similar <br />habitat within the Danforth Hills and throughout much of northwestern <br />4-1 <br />