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Sage Creek Mine February 2009 <br />• and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) have been conducted by ICF Jones & Stokes annually <br />(except in 2008) since 1994 on the overlapping Seneca II and Yoast Mines. Those surveys <br />covered greater than 61% of the Sage Creek Mine study area and the surrounding 2.0 -mile <br />perimeter. Only the far northern and southeastern 2.0 -mile perimeter was not included in the <br />Seneca II and Yoast Mine survey areas. ICF Jones & Stokes did not complete any big game <br />surveys during 2008, as per the waived wildlife monitoring requirements from CDOW and CDRMS <br />for the reclaimed Seneca II and Yoast Mines. <br />All aerial surveys were conducted from a helicopter with a pilot and two ICF Jones & Stokes <br />biologists flying 50 to 300 feet above the ground and 35 to 75 miles per hour. Surveys were <br />completed by systematically searching for big game in all drainages and slopes within the Sage <br />Creek Mine study area and surrounding 2.0 -mile perimeter. The same protocol was followed on <br />previous surveys for the Seneca II and Yoast Mines. Biologists noted the locations of all animal <br />sightings (including big game, mammalian predators, grouse, and raptors) and plotted them on <br />1:24,000 topographic maps. Habitat associations were also recorded for each observation. <br />3.3 Upland Game Birds <br />• 3.3.1 Grouse Lek Attendance Monitorin <br />Ten known Columbian sharp - tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus) leks occur <br />within the Sage Creek Mine study area and a 1.0 -mile buffer. All 10 leks were monitored for the <br />Sage Creek study area in spring 2008, as well as being annually monitored since 1996 or the <br />inception of their existence for both the Seneca II and Yoast Mines. <br />The Seneca 1 lek (NE NW Section 2 T5N:R87W) was discovered in 1995 in reclamation at the <br />Seneca II Mine by Roy Karo (Seneca II Environmental Coordinator), and the Seneca 2 lek was <br />found in reclamation in SW NW Section 12 T5N:R87W during 1998. In 2002, ICF Jones & Stokes <br />biologists discovered the Seneca 3 lek (SE SE Section 2 T5N:R87W) in reclamation between the <br />Seneca 1 and 2 leks. A fourth lek (Seneca 4) was discovered just off the access road in SW SE <br />Section 1 T5N:R87W in 2004 by ICF Jones & Stokes biologists. All four Seneca leks are within 1.5 <br />miles of each other. Three additional sharp - tailed grouse leks were discovered during baseline <br />studies for the Yoast Mine in 1993. Those include the Annan's Twentymile 1 lek (SE SE Section 9 <br />T5N:R87W), Annan's Twentymile 2 lek (SE SE Section 5 T5N:R87W), and Annan's Twentymile 3 <br />lek (SE NW Section 9 T5N:R87W). Three other leks were found between 2000 and 2005 within <br />• the CRP land in the general area of the Yoast Mine. The Yoast Mine Road lek was discovered in <br />5 <br />