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Bluestone and Section 16 Wildlife Issues Report Western Aggregates, Inc <br />present on or nearby the mining areas. Most use is oriented toward prairie dogs colonies <br />within the buffer zone, although lagomorphs and carrion may also be opportunistically <br />' exploited. There are no prairie dogs towns on or near the 2 proposed mining areas. Some <br />brief fishing and waterfowl hunting opportunities may exist on RFP reservoir before winter <br />' freeze-up. <br />Proposed mining areas represent a small portion of the overall winter range of bald eagles <br />' that occasionally hunt the site. Based upon results of an on-going 5 year study (Thompson <br />et al. unpubl. data) of wintering raptors at an existing and approved, but undeveloped <br />limestone mine in a similar Boulder County setting, bald eagles are relatively tolerant of the <br />' type of mining being proposed. While occasional hunting opportunities would be reduced <br />on mining areas for the life of mining and vegetative reestablishment, this should not <br />' adversely affect local bald eagle use. <br />' Pereerine Falcon <br />In recent years, a pair of peregrine falcons have nested on the Flatirons, approximately 6 <br />' miles northwest of the Bluestone site. Although most peregrine hunting generally occurs <br />within 5 miles of a nest site (Craig 1978), the hunting range of this pair may extend over the <br />subject parcels. However, these parcels are relatively unimportant hunting habitats for <br />Flatiron: peregrines because, as grasslands, they support below average prey densities <br />(Thomp:>on and Strauch 1986) and site characteristics that do not expose birds to peregrine <br />' attack as well as those of other surrounding areas. This is not to say, however, that some <br />hunting may not occur over the sites or in adjacent areas. RFP reservoir may be the most <br />' attractive habitat on-site because it supports greater densities of potential prey. However, <br />no habitat on-site is considered particularly attractive or important to the Flatirons <br />peregrines. Peregrines may also hunt over the site during spring and fall migration, although <br />' that use would be similarly constrained by low prey populations not particularly vulnerable <br />to peregrines. <br />' Whoo ine Crane <br />' Whooping cranes only occur in Colorado as rare migrants during spring and fall stopovers <br />with sancihill cranes (C. caltadeluis). Suitable stopover habitat (e.g., large marshes, riparian <br />t areas, af;ricultural fields with long horizontal sight-distances) is not present on, or in the <br />vicinity of, the 2 proposed mining areas. <br />' Pioine Plover <br />' Piping plovers are rare migrants to Colorado's eastern plains (Andrews and Righter 1992). <br /> <br />Western Ecosystems, Inc 1$ December, 1994 <br />