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Table 2. Fauna Present In Project Area • American elk Beaver Bighorn sheep Bison Blue grouse Common chipmunk Golden eagle Jackrabbit Least chipmunk ~7ule deer Nuttall's cottontail Porcupine Prairie falcon Red fox Red-tailed hawk Red hafted flicker Ruffed grouse Sa~,;e ,rouse Sharp tailed grouse Stellar's jay Striped skunk Thirteen-lied ground squirrel Turl<ev vulture 11'hite-tailed deer ~~ P1ST AND PRESENT CLI`•IATE There has Seen little paleoclimatological research in northwestern Colorado; however, it may be possible to suggest several trends. Amore precise synthesis of Colorado east slope paleoclimate, drawing from a number of sources especially the work of James Benedict (1970, is present in Burney et al. (13'79) and is abstracted here. During Late Wisconsin times, th=_ Pinedale glaciation, one of three advances, occurred in Colorado. Climate was moister and cooler in the summers and winters (Richmond 1965). Temperatures during the summer at 8,000 feet (2,433 m) could have been similar to those of 11,700 ft/3,588 m today (i-I;rsted 1962). After the Pinedale glaciation, the Altithermal brought an increase in temperat»re and a decrease in moisture (Outcalt and llacPhail 1965). Several fluctuations :curved during the Altithermal, with the Altithermal maximum occurring at 7500 to 0500 B.P., probably causing the abandonment of many lower areas and the use of higher e:evations as refuge areas (Benedict 1975). An expansion of the sagebrush steppe and recession of the forest probably occurred at this time (Lischka 1976), and shifted vegetational communities upward. Since the Altithermal, there have been three small glaciations (:17illington 1977). Cooler summers and increased snowfall can be post~~lated during these stages, but it is unlikely that conditions were as severe as those of thr, Pinedale glaciation. These cooler a?isodes apparently caused a slight lowering of vegetational communities and increased runoff during the spring. 9