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r <br />�J <br />• <br />Sage Creek Mine <br />4.1 Big Game <br />February 2009 <br />The Sage Creek Mine study area encompasses approximately 18.9 square miles and the entire big <br />game survey area (including a 2.0 -mile buffer) totals approximately 83.6 square miles. Past aerial <br />winter big game surveys conducted for the Seneca II and Yoast Mines overlap greater than 61 % of <br />the Sage Creek Mine big game survey area, and the results of those surveys constitute the basis <br />for the summaries provided below. Compilation of big game data was made from 2000 to 2007 (as <br />no big game surveys were required on the Seneca II and Yoast Mines in 2008), but previous <br />historical data can be referenced in the appropriate annual reports for the Seneca II and Yoast <br />Mines submitted to CDRMS. <br />Elk, mule deer, and pronghorn are the big game species that have been recorded in the Sage <br />Creek Mine survey area. Elk are the most commonly documented big game species, occurring <br />throughout much of the survey area. Mule deer have been documented regularly each year in <br />many of the same portions of the survey area, but generally occur in relatively low numbers. <br />Pronghorn have been relatively uncommon, documented only twice since 2000, in the Seneca II <br />and Yoast survey area during winter big game surveys. However, incidental observations of <br />pronghorn during spring and summer suggest greater occurrence within the lower elevations <br />(sagebrush - grassland communities and agricultural fields) during other periods of the year. More <br />specific observation summaries of each of the three species are provided below. <br />4.1.1 Elk <br />The CDOW (CDOW 2008) has classified the entire Sage Creek Mine big game survey area as elk <br />winter range and has designated approximately 10.0 square miles (53 %) of the permit area, <br />including the entire northwest and extreme southeast portions, as elk severe winter range. <br />Additionally, the CDOW has classified 33.7 square miles of the Sage Creek Mine big game survey <br />area as elk summer range (CDOW 2008). Those areas are designated along the western and <br />southern perimeter, including the majority of a transportation corridor study area south of the <br />central study area. However, less than 1.1 square miles (5 %), including only the far southwestern <br />margin of the entire Sage Creek Mine study area, is designated as elk summer range. <br />Over the course of the past surveys for the Seneca II and Yoast mines, elk were the most <br />prevalent big game species in the Sage Creek Mine study area. Between the years of 2000 and <br />2007, biologists recorded an average of 416 elk per year and an average of 44 herds per year. <br />9 <br />