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• on data sheets contained in the Appendix of the threatened and endangered species <br />assessment report. <br />SITE DESCRIPTION <br />The exploration drill holes aze located topographically above the Sanborn Creek Mine <br />facilities and generally on the upper erosional surface of the Fire Mountain area. The <br />exploration drill holes are located within the upper reaches of the Hubbard and Bear <br />Creek drainages that flow into the North Fork of the Gunnsion River near Somerset. The <br />exploration drill hole locations iange in elevation from 7280 to 8260 feet and are located <br />on Oxbow Mining Company, Hotchkiss Ranch, and BLM landholdings. <br />Soils types within the azea reflect their origin and genesis as well as topographic position <br />and aspect. Dominant soils include the Beenom-Absazokee ]oams,.Delson stony loans, <br />Fughes loam, and Torriorthent-Rock complex (USDA, 1976). These soils aze all formed <br />on uplands and mountain sideslopes, and landslide areas. Annual precipitation is <br />approximately 18 inches. Beenom-Absarokee soils are shallow to moderately deep soils <br />overlying bedrock at 20-40 inches. Typically, these soils have shallow loam surface <br />layers overlying clay at less than one-foot depth. ]7elson soils aze deep, well-drained <br />soils with a surface loam layer underlain by reddish brown clay to three feet depth <br />• Fughes soils aze also deep, well-drained soils on landslide deposits. Their surface layer is <br />a shallow (five inches) very dark grayish brown stony loam, and the subsurface layer is <br />dark grayish brown clay loam to sixty inches. Torriorthent-Rock complex soils are found <br />on very steep locations and aze often associated with rock outcrops. These soils are very <br />vaziable and range from ten to sixty inches deep. The surface is generally a stony loam <br />with many weathered rock fragments overlying broken rock <br />Oakbrush/mountain shrub is the dominant vegetation community at the exploration drill <br />hole sites and the road segment. This community is dominated by Gambel's oak <br />(Quercus gambeli:~ with a moderately open to closed canopy. Associated sub-dominant <br />overstory species include serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) and chokecherry (Prunus <br />virginiana). Generally there is awell-developed shrub understory that is dominated by <br />mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos rotundifolius) with chokecherry and servicebeny <br />seedlings and occasional. big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). In the exploration drill <br />sites investigated, there was generally awell-developed herbaceous layer below and <br />within the shrubs and overstory layers. The herbaceous layer contained numerous <br />representatives of both graminoid and forbs species, including; bluegrasses (Poa sp.), <br />bromes . {Bromus sp.), elk sedge (Carex geyer:~, arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza <br />sagittata), bluebells (Mertensia sp.), delphinium (Delphinium. sp.), lupine (Lupinus <br />argenteus), penstemon (Penstemon alpinus and P: strictus), American vetch (Vicia <br />americana), violets (Viola sp.), and yarrow (Achillea lanulosa). <br />Exploration drill hole site OM-Ol-Ol was dominated by an open meadow vegetation <br />• community bordered by oakbrush/mountain shrub and aspen vegetation communities. <br />-Z- <br />