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The western portion of t-he Williams Fork h!ountains, including part of the mine plan area, is considered critical winter range far elk by the U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service (1978). Pellet group data (Table 3) do show increased usage of the ~• mine plan area during winter months. Aerial surveys have also been used to eval- uate trends of elk usage cf the proposed mine plan area anal adjacenC areas during winter months. Table 2 illustrates tl~e minimum average number of big game sight- ed in the mine plan area an+l zdjacent areas. Aerial ce:isus data indicate that the mina plan area and adjacent areas are utilized by e1!c during winter months (Tably_ 1) and the use is eenerally concentraC.ed on the north facing slopes of the area. Appror.i:aately three-fourths of this arcs consists' of cp+antain shrub vege- taCive type. Boyd (1970) in his stur!y of the [Trite giver elk herd, found winter use greater in rnuuntain shrub communities than in any other vegetative type. Boyd also found that 57 percent of elk forage during win~_er months consists of browse species with oakbrush (Quercus~ambellii) being first among wood species consumed. Other forage species included aspen CPopulus tremuloides), service- berry (A.velanchier alnifolia), big sagebrush (Artemisia t=identata), and snow- berry (Symphoricarpus utahensis). However, during the severe winter of 1978- 1979, elk concentrated and wintered in the Big Bottom area north of the Trapper Mine in fully exposed meadows where there were no shrubs at all. . The mine plan area does provide for elk winter use. Boyd X1970), however, found that oakbrush having more than 51 percent density (of cover) physically excludes elk from entering. Much of the mountain shrub conwunities within or adjacent to the proposed mine plan area are made up of dense thickets of over-mature plants in densities greater than 51 percent. As a result, elk camcentrate where access to forage and available browse exists in discreet units scattered across portions of the proposed mine plan area. In other words, only a small portion of the shrub production in dense stands is actually accessible fc~r use by elk. Fewer shrubs would therefore be likely to increase available forage for elk winter use. Sage Grouse Sage Grouse are rarely observed within the mine plan arem. If the species is found in mountain shrub, it is usually at a location surrmunded by sagebrush or adjacent to sagebrush. This kind of habitat occurs primarily in the west one- • third of the mine plan area. Ab 'estimate is available fa,r [he number of binds -19-