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II I I II I II I II IIII III ~ i~ z~~~ • 999 s/v ~ EXHIBIT H WILDLIFE INFORMATION American Soda has been working closely with the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) wildlife biologist and the Meeker Office of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) on several wildlife-related issues. The primary concerns identified by the BLM and CDOW include 1) mule deer wintering habitat at the Piceance Site, 2) nesting raptors, 3) sage grouse habitat along the pipeline corridor, and 4) waterfowl impacts from industrial ponds at the Piceance Site and the Parachute Site. American Soda is preparing a mule deer mitigation plan to mitigate for impacts to wintering mule deer habitat. Other proposed wildlife mitigation includes continued monitoring for nesting raptors at the Piceance Site, enhancing sage grouse habitat along certain portions of the pipeline corridor following installation of the pipeline, and monitoring waterfowl use and water chemistry of the evaporation ponds, with the potential for netting one or more of the ponds if impacts to waterfowl are observed. The following information provides a summary of the above-mentioned wildlife resources. H.1 Mule Deer Mule deer use a variety of habitats in the Piceance Creek and Parachute Creek basins on a seasonal basis. The Piceance Basin has been identified as containing one of the largest migratory deer herds in the world. During the summer, mule deer occupy higher- elevation ranges supporting mountain shrub, aspen, and Douglas fir habitats. During the winter, they concentrate in pinyon-juniper and sagebrush ranges below 7,400 feet, where snow depths and temperatures are more moderate. Site-specific data for the Piceance Site are not available. However, American Soda is currently monitoring mule deer use in a cooperative effort with the BLM and CDOW that will be used in preparing a mule deer mitigation plan for the project. Some general observations about mule deer activity in the Piceance Basin also apply to mule deer use of the Piceance Site. For the most part, mule deer use the Piceance Site only during the winter. The Piceance Site is classified by the CDOW as both mule deer winter range and severe winter range. Mule deer begin migrating into the area in September and increase in density through January as snow accumulation at higher elevation forces increasing numbers down to late-winter ranges. Winter use is associated with pinyon-juniper woodlands and chained pinyon-juniper vegetation, where cover and preferred forage are most readily available. In February, the deer begin migrating out of the higher elevations, making increasingly heavy use of hay meadows and sagebrush bottoms as they go. Peak use of H-1