2007-08-08_PERMIT FILE - C1981033

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J.E. Stover & Associates, Inc June 2007 6 Page 6 cover enhance foraging habitat, although lynx mostly avoid openings larger than several acres. Closed canopy forests with significant dead and down trees provide optimum denning habitat. In areas with deep winter snow, foraging habitat must contain shrubs or small trees of sufficient height to extend above snowpack. No mapped potential lynx habitat lies within the Bear Mine permit boundary (Figure 1). Within the Bear Mine permit boundary, preferred denning and foraging habitats for lynx are lacking. Mature or old growth stands of lodgepole pine and spruce -fir (preferred denning habitats) and early -seral stage stands (primary foraging habitats) are not supported within the area. The nearest substantial block of potential habitat for lynx lies approximately 0.5 mile east of the mine boundary (Figure 1) in the Sylvester Gulch drainage. This block does not represent primary lynx denning or foraging habitat due to elevation and plant community characteristics. More suitable lynx habitat is found at higher elevations several miles away on the Grand Mesa, in the Elk Mountains, and in the West Elk and Raggeds Wilderness Areas to the north, east, and south of the mine permit boundary. One of the principal factors affecting lynx and snowshoe hare habitat in Colorado is human alteration of the abundance, species composition, and successional stages of forested habitats and the fragmentation of forested blocks." The effects of increased human presence and roads may also reduce habitat effectiveness. Roads fragment habitat and increase the probability of mortalities from vehicle collisions." Lynx are believed to be susceptible to human disturbance during the denning period and may move kittens in response to disturbance, thereby increasing the chances of mortality. Due to lack of preferred denning and foraging habitat, use of the mine permit area by lynx is expected to be limited to occasional transitory individuals. The proposed renewal of the Bear Mine permit would not result in any losses of preferred habitat or in the fragmentation of blocks of suitable habitat for lynx. None of these previous impacts have affected or have the potential to affect habitats for the Canada lynx. There is no effect to lynx or lynx habitat since renewal of the Bear Mine permit would not affect the structure, composition, or distribution of existing lynx denning or forage habitat. Lynx are not expected to move into mine permit area from reintroduction sites in the foreseeable future. Therefore, relative risks to individual lynx and overall population recovery of lynx are predicted to be very low. Boreal Toad The boreal toad (also known as mountain toad) was historically widespread and abundant throughout most of the southern Rocky Mountains, and has undergone a severe decline in distribution and abundance since the late 1970s. Causes for decline potentially include habitat destruction or alteration (flooding of montane wetlands to create reservoirs; road construction; water, livestock, timber, minerals, and fire management practices; predation by introduced trout; and other factors related to acidification and heavy- metals contamination of water bodies). The nearest documented population of boreal toad in Gunnison County was observed in the Elk Mountains approximately 20 miles east of Bear Mine in 1950. Boreal toad breeding habitat is still or sluggish water with emergent vegetation and shrubby willows at the gently - sloping edges of small lakes or ponds, beaver ponds, glacial kettle ponds, and 20 Koehler, G.M.and K.B. Aubry. 1994. The scientific basis for conserving forest carnivores: American marten, fisher, lynx, and wolverine in the western United States. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. General Tech. Report RM 254. 184pp. ® Rare Earth Science, LLC