2007-08-08_PERMIT FILE - C1981033

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J.E. Stover & Associates, Inc • June 2007 4 Page 4 64(128):36453- 36464. On February 16, 2006, USFWS reopened the public comment period on delisting the bald eagle in the lower 48 states at Federal Register 71(32):8238 -8251 and indicated that the bald eagle is considered recovered. No critical habitat has been designated for bald eagles. Bald eagles prefer coastal areas, rivers, or lakeshores with tall diurnal perches. In Colorado, bald eagles are rare summer breeders and common winter residents primarily in mountain parks and western river valleys. 12 During the night, wintering bald eagles roost in tall trees, or occasionally, cliffs, up to 20 miles from foraging areas. 14 Bald eagles may select night roosts that offer protection from winter winds and where thermoclines provide warmer temperatures than foraging areas. 14,11 In daytime, eagles make foraging flights from night roosts, alighting on the ground to capture prey or feed on carrion and frequently resting in tall trees or, less commonly, on manmade structures. Fidelity to night roosts is low. The north third of the Bear Mine permit area, which lies within the North Fork River corridor, is within bald eagle winter foraging range and a bald eagle winter concentration area mapped by CDOW (Figure 1). A CDOW- mapped bald eagle roost site exists within 2 miles west of the mine boundary, in the North Fork River bottom. Bald eagles may use the north portion of the mine permit area, which includes the North Fork River corridor, to roost and hunt for fish and small game. Bald eagles may also forage for rodents and carrion across the steep shrublands of the south portion of the mine permit area. The southern extents of the mine permit area feature rimrock ledges and tall conifers that may provide attractive night roosts for bald eagles. However, given the high - quality habitat available to bald eagles on the North Fork River, which provides their preferred prey (fish . and waterfowl), and given the availability of a several - mile -long stretch of cottonwood galleries and potential roosts in the river bottom that is removed from mining activity and the residential activities of Somerset, it is likely that bald eagles occur only infrequently within the mine boundary. The lands within the Bear Mine permit boundary contribute minimally to sustaining wintering bald eagle populations in the North Fork Valley. Potential impacts of the permit renewal to bald eagles are primarily disturbance of possible night - roosting areas around the area of permitted surface disturbance. However, given the bald eagle's low fidelity to night roosts, such impacts are not likely to cause measurable effects on bald eagles. Water depletion in the upper Colorado River basin resulting from mine operations could also potentially affect bald eagle winter foraging habitat. The effects of water depletion would depend on the extent that forage fish habitat is affected by the mine's water consumption. Nevertheless, because fish do not form the sole prey base for bald eagles in the North Fork Valley, the water consumption occurring as a result of the renewal of the mine permit is not likely to cause measurable effects on bald eagles. Yellow - billed cuckoo Probably never common in western Colorado , this bird is now considered an extremely rare summer resident and nearly extirpated in western Colorado. , The species does not winter in the state. Reasons for decline of the yellow - billed cuckoo throughout the western U.S. have been attributed to destruction of its preferred riparian habitat due to agricultural conversions, flood control 12 Andrews, R. and R. Righter. 1992. Colorado Birds. Denver: Denver Museum of Natural History. 442 pp. 13 Buehler, D. A. 2000. Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). In The Birds of North America, No. 506 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and the American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. 14 Moynahan, Brendan (BLM Grand Junction Field Office Wildlife Biologist). 2006. Personal communication with Dawn Reeder (Rare Earth Science, LLC), March 8. © Rare Earth Science, LLC