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• still exceeded those from most previous counts. Numbers have continued to decrease annually <br />and the 2008 total was the lowest count recorded since observation began. <br />The second lek, Seneca 2, was active for the eleventh consecutive year in 2008. On 28 <br />April, 18 males were documented at the lek. Peak male attendance has remained relatively <br />stable, averaging 22 males/year, with the exception of the lower numbers observed in 1998 and <br />2006. <br />The third lek in reclamation, Seneca 3, was active for the seventh consecutive year in <br />2008. Male sharp-tailed grouse were observed in that area from 1998 through 2000, while the <br />first documentation of females at the site occurred in 2001. Since it was officially designated as <br />a lek site in 2001, male attendance has averaged 20.6 males and has increased each year except in <br />2006. No sex determinations were able to be made in 2008, however, the number of individuals <br />(16) was the lowest since the lek was officially designated in 2001. <br />The Seneca 4 lek site was discovered during surveys in 2004. From its discovery, <br />peak male attendance at this site has fluctuated from 6 to 13 individuals. The highest attendance <br />(18) was documented in 2008. <br />• Mine personnel and ICF J&S biologists reported observing displaying grouse at a new <br />location in NE NW Section 12, TSN, R87W in spring 2007. On 22 April, biologists documented <br />eight males displaying and fighting within reclamation, slightly northeast of a regarded mine <br />road. No females were observed. The site is located almost equidistant (0.25 mile) between the <br />Seneca 2 lek and the Seneca 4 leks and will be included in future annual surveys to more <br />accurately determine its status as a lek. The survey conducted on 28 April, 2008 found no birds <br />at this site. Subsequently, it has not been added to the table of known leks. <br />The overall increase of males within the Seneca II area is generally consistent with <br />increased counts at other sharp-tailed grouse leks throughout northwestern Colorado (Yost 2007, <br />Hoffman 2001). Although increased lek attendance by males is an indication of increasing <br />populations, the number of leks in an area is a better measure of a population's status (Cannon <br />and Knopf 1981). Therefore, the establishment of four verified leks at Seneca II since 1995, in <br />combination with an increase in observed males suggests that the sharp-tailed grouse population <br />breeding within the Seneca II area is healthy. <br />• <br />2007 Seneca 11 Mine Wildlife Monitoring Page 4