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Bluestone and Section 16 Wildlife Lssua Report Walern Aggrcgala, Inc. <br />1 be limited to, killdeer (Charadrius vociferous), mourning dove (Zereaida macroura), common <br />nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), western meadowlark (Stumella neglecta), Brewer's sparrow <br />' (Spizella breweri), grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savanltantm), vesper sparrow <br />(Poocetes gramilleus), and lark sparrow (Chorldestes grammacus). <br />' "Take" vrill be avoided by scheduling ground breaking of new areas to be mined. With the <br />possible exception of killdeer, and even more remotely, nighthawks, none of the above <br />' ground nesting birds would be expected to attempt nesting on an area stripped of its <br />vegetation and topsoil. Therefore, vegetation and topsoil would be stripped from areas to <br />be mined within the current year before May 1 (before nesting commences). If that occurs, <br />' mining may commence in that area, and in any other previously disturbed areas, during the <br />bird breeding season. In the event such stripping does not occur on or before April 30, <br />' disturbance to the proposed mining area may not occur until after July 15, by which time <br />young-o1'-the-year from nests on the future mining area should have fledged. <br />1 <br />' 4.4 HIGH BIODIVERSITY VALUES OF AFFECTED HABITATS <br />The USDOE (Anonymous 1994, Wienand 1994a, b) and CDOW (Weber 1994, Howard <br />' 1994) raised issues relating to unique and high value habitats and their interspersion, either <br />on mining areas or down gradient from them. The following discussion will be confined to <br />wildlife habitats and values. <br />' Areas down gradient from the Bluestone and Section 16 mining areas do contain some <br />' relativel}~ uncommon, though certainly not "unique", hydrologic characteristics compared to <br />most other foothill/ pediment situations along the Front Range. For example, a similar array <br />occurs north of Boulder, mostly east of Highway 36. The only difference between these and <br />' other areas is that those within the buffer zone are under one, conservatively managed, <br />surface ownership, while those north of Boulder, and probably in other areas, are <br />fragmented by private ownership, which, in some, if not most cases, has lead to the <br />' degradation of associated vegetation. <br />' The woody and other mesic plant species associated with these hydrologic outcrops are also <br />not unique. These plants are generally common and widespread. <br />' The wildlife diversity associated with the maximum interspersion of these woody and other <br />habitats is relatively high, partly as a result of habitat type, structure, interspersion, and block <br />' size, but also due to conservative management, isolation from human disturbance, and the <br />refuge effect of the buffer zone. Nevertheless, there are other communities in the <br />surrounding area that support a greater abundance of these wildlife species (e.g., Dowdy <br />' Draw to the west, where the same woody plants occurs in stands rather than linear strips) <br />and a greater diversity of wildlife species (e.g., Coal Creek and South Boulder Creek, which <br /> <br />Walern Ecoxyslems, Inc Zt December, 1994 <br />