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Bluestone and Section 16 Wildlife Issues Report Western Aggregates, Inc. <br />1 <br />3.0 METHODS <br />' WEI was introduced to WAI's proposals in August, 1994. Since then, much of the existing <br />wildlife data base related to mining issues has been assembled and assimilated. Most of this <br />information was obtained from recent and ongoing studies by EG&G RFP, Inc. ecology staff <br />' (EG&G). Several reconnaissance surveys of the Bluestone and Section 16 sites were <br />conducted in September and October to identify and evaluate on-site and off-site habitats <br />and the wildlife that may be using them. A survey of the RFP buffer zone was conducted <br />1 on September 15 with EG&G biologists specifically to observe habitats and discuss issues <br />associated with Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus /ItuLsatius preblei, PJM). <br />' Once issues were identified and understood, a draft resolution plan was prepared and <br />presente:d to WAI for their consideration. The portion of the plan dealing with PJM, the <br />' most contentious issue, was then presented to the USFWS in an October 12, 1994 meeting. <br /> <br />4.0 WILDLIFE ISSUES <br />4.1 PP:EBLE'S MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE <br />Preble's meadow jumping mouse is presently a federal C-2 candidate species that has <br />recently been petitioned for listing as a threatened or endangered species pursuant to the <br />Endangered Species Act (ESA), as amended (Carlton 1994). PJM is a subspecies of the <br />meadow jumping mouse, which is widely distributed across North America (Whitaker 1972). <br />' The historic distribution of this subspecies, confined to southeastern Wyoming and <br />northcerltral Colorado, is summarized in Krutzsch (1954), Long (1965), Lechleitner (1969), <br />and Arrrlstrong (1972). In Colorado, PJM is known from the western edge of the Colorado <br />Piedmont, in the South Platte River drainage, southward to the vicinity of Denver <br />(Armstrong 1972). PJM have been collected in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, El Paso, <br />Jeffersoly Larimer, and Weld Counties (Armstrong 1972, Jones and Jones 1985, Compton <br />t and Hugie 1993). <br />' Compton and Hugie (1993) reviewed the current status of PJM. As of August 19, 1994, 72 <br />PJM have been captured in Colorado since 1972 (Jones and Jones 1985, Dawson 1989, <br />Compton 1992, Stoecker 1992, 1993, Compton and Hugie 1993, EG&G 1994a, F.Harrington, <br />' EG&G, pers. comm., Oct. 12, 1994), 61 of them within the RFP buffer zone, and 4 on City <br />of Boulder Open Space within 5 miles of the RFP. The 89% (64 of 72) all Colorado PJM <br />1 Wes[ern Ecosystems, Inc. 'J December, 1994 <br />