2010-05-14_REVISION - C1980007 (7)

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Clay loving wild buckwheat FE No No Candidate Species Yellow-billed cuckoo FC, SC No No Gunnison sage grouse FC, SC No No Boreal toad FC, SE No No FE - Federal Endangered FT - Federal Threatened FC - Federal Candidate Species SE - State Endangered ST - State Threatened SC - State Species of Concern The only T&E species that could possibly occur in the area would be Canada lynx. Reopening the existing access road along Deep Creek to the existing reclaimed exploration road will not result in any additional habitat disturbance. The proposed reopened exploration road to the proposed sites is located in Gambel oak dominated mountain shrub habitat and a minor amount of declining aspen habitat. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has determined from studies that Gamble oak-mountain shrub habitat is not utilized by lynx, except on rare occasions. The lack of suitable habitat minimizes the chances that any lynx or their prey would be affected by activities associated with the drilling operations. The road along Deep Creek will not result in the loss of any additional spruce-fir habitat suitable for lynx. In addition, snowshoe hare numbers along this road are very low, well below what would be necessary to support a lynx for any period of time. The USDA Forest Service Region 2 lists a total of 6 species as Sensitive that are known to occur or for which suitable habitat exists on this portion of the Gunnison National Forest (see Table 2). Table 2 USFS REGION 2 SENSITIVE SPECIES Species Habitat Present Species Present Terrestrial vertebrates: American marten Yes Yes American peregrine falcon No nesting habitat Yes Northern goshawk Yes Yes Olive-sided flycatcher Yes Yes Purple martin Yes Yes Amphibians: Northern leopard frog Yes Yes Of the USFS listed sensitive species the only ones observed during the multiple years of