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1 Bluestone and section 16 Wildlife Issues Report Western Aggrcgales, Inc. <br />have been detected within the RFP buffer zone (USDOE 1994a). There have been no <br />adequate surveys to detect this species on either mining area. Large areas of potentially <br />' suitable shrike habitat would be destroyed by each of the proposed mines. None of these <br />areas are considered important to the survival or shrike populations and it is unlikely that <br />' there would be any adverse impact to this species as a result of the proposed mine <br />development. Mitigation (see section 4.2 Migratory Birds) would preclude direct impacts <br />to shrikes and would preserve the most suitable shrike habitat (i.e., the Rock Creek draws) <br />' within the Bluestone permit area <br />' Frln~ailed Myotis <br />Fringed myotis occur throughout western North American from Mexico into Canada <br />(Barbour and Davis 1969). This is a common bat at lower and intermediate elevations in <br />the southwestern United States, but occurs as irregular, local, and scattered populations in <br />' the northern part of its range, which includes Colorado. In Colorado, this species inhabits <br />coniferous forests and woodlands, including ponderosa pine and oakbrush, up to a maximum <br />elevation of 7,500 feet (Scott et al. 1984). These bats roost in rock crevices, mines, caves, <br />buildings, and trees. They feed on arthropods, such as moths, daddy-long-legs, and beetles, <br />taken along water courses or above the forest/ woodland canopy. Fringed myotis have not <br />been rec:orded in Jefferson County, although they have been recorded in EI Paso County to <br />t the southeast (Armstrong 1972, Scott et al. 1984). There have been no suitable surveys to <br />detect this species on either mining area. However, the open grassland habitats on both <br />' mining Itreas do not represent particularly attractive foraging or roosting habitat for this <br />species. Fringed myotis, as well as other species of bats, could drink water from RFP <br />Reservoir or from its supply ditch. If locally present, mining should have no adverse effect <br />on fringed myotis. <br />1 <br />Cl <br />Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse <br />See the discussion of this species in section 4.1 Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse, above. <br />' Swift Fox <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br />Swift fox formerly occupied most of the Great Plains, from western Texas northward to <br />Alberta (Armstrong 1972). However, as the prairies were settled, swift fox numbers declined <br />due to trapping, hunting, predator control, rodent control programs, and loss of native <br />prairie (Bailey 1926). More recently, Robinson (1953, 1961) suggested that species similar <br />to the svrift fox were vulnerable to "coyote (Cal:ls latralls) getters" and to the poison "1080" <br />used for coyote control. As a result, swift fox populations were severely depleted from the <br />Western Ea~syslems, Inc. 19 December, 1994 <br />