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occur and thus, are a competitor for prey lynx would normally use (Kolbe, et. al. 2007). For this <br />reason data was also collected on the amount of time coyotes used existing packed trails as <br />access routes throughout the area. <br />Following is a general observation about winter habitat use by both predators and prey. During <br />these and other winter studies conducted by Monarch (Unpublished data) it has been noted that <br />predator-prey winter habitat use is very low in areas such a mature aspen stands, willow <br />dominated riparian bottoms and mountain shrub habitat. In the E-Seam area this same <br />observation was made with low numbers of tracks being encountered in over 270 miles of <br />surveys in these habitat types. Both the lack of predator and prey tracks in aspen was found in <br />all aspen stands checked during the surveys. In many cases only one or two sets of tracks might <br />be observed in several miles of transect. The same was true for willow dominated riparian <br />habitat. <br />As expected, higher numbers of tracks, indicating more animals, were encountered in the Spruce- <br />fir-aspen habitat type along the Deep Creek drainage. Numbers of tracks in this area was <br />significantly higher per mile than in any of the other habitat types. <br />DISCUSSION <br />Following is a discussion on the data collected during the surveys for snowshoe hares, coyotes, <br />red fox and American marten. <br />Snowshoe hares - Because snowshoe hares provide 95+ percent of lynx winter diet (Squires, <br />2007) it was deemed important to know if hare density is high enough in the project area to <br />support lynx. Data from this survey indicate that numbers of snowshoe hares in the area, <br />especially in gambel oak/mountain shrub, are well below what it would take to sustain lynx in <br />the area. The highest number of snowshoes were found along Deep Creek, but this is a very <br />small area and total numbers of hares would not support more than one lynx for any period of <br />time. Lacking a suitable prey base and suitable habitat in the majority of the project area <br />minimizes the chances of a lynx occurring in the area. Not only would this be true in the winter, <br />but the lack of prey would have a direct bearing on whether lynx would den and produce young <br />in the area. <br />Snowshoe hares were found in all habitat types. Table 1 shows number of tracks observed in <br />each habitat type during each survey. As evidenced by observation locations highest average <br />numbers per linear mile (3.96) were found in Spruce/Fir habitat along Deep Creek. Total <br />numbers of hares observed were highest in Gambel oak dominated habitat, but number per linear <br />mile ( 0.53) were much lower than in the Spruce Fir. They were also observed in Aspen stands <br />and in riparian areas associated with the Gambel oak dominated habitat on the adjacent hillsides. <br />In both these habitat types average number per mile (0.38 and 0.61 respectively) were low and <br />similar to mountain shrub habitat. No tracks were encountered in larger riparian areas where <br />hares would be further from other habitat types. <br />9