2010-09-29_REVISION - M1981185 (12)

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May Day and Idaho Mine Complex 112 (d) Permit Application • depletion. The project has a state - issued permit for water used of up to 4.6 acre -feet per year with an augmentation pond requirement (Exhibit G — Water Information). Further investigation of this indirect impact is not required since there is not Federal Action trig- gered by this project (pers. comm. Patty Gelatt, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, July 15, 2010). • Razorback sucker: the sucker inhabits silt- bottomed to rock - bottomed backwaters near strong current and deep pools in medium to large rivers, and impoundments 8. Similar to the pikeminnow, potential habitat for sucker would be miles downstream and potential impact would be indirect. • Uncompahgre fritillary butterfly: the butterfly inhabits patches of snow willow above 13,000 feet The upper limit of the affected lands is below 9,500 feet; therefore potential habitat is not present. • Black- footed ferret: the ferret inhabits the prairie region and depends extensively on co- lonies of prairie dogs as they live in the burrows made by prairie dogs and use prairie dogs for food. Prairie dog colonies are not present on or near the Affected Lands. • Canada lynx: within colder climate coniferous forests, lynx are most likely to persist in areas that receive deep snow and have high - density populations of snowshoe hares, the principal prey of lynx' 1 . These lynxes are highly mobile and occupy large home ranges within a variety of habitats and are solitary with territories that exclude same sex/age in- dividuals, they tend to avoid human activity 12 . The affected lands are potentially part of the home range of 1 to 2 Canada lynx. The San Juan National Forest comprises the core of Colorado's Lynx Recovery area 6.4.8(1)(d) Direct and Indirect Impacts of Proposed Mining Operation on Wildlife Direct impact on wildlife and their habitat due to renewed mining activity on this property will be minimal. This is a small underground mining operation; please see Exhibit D - Mining Plan for a full description of the mining operation. Notable impacts may result from: • Development of a former tailings impoundment (abandoned approximately 30 years prior) into a about 1 -acre augmentation pond at the Idaho Operational Area. This will provide a new fresh water source in this area. A natural seep is close by providing fresh water. Grading existing access roads will temporarily disrupt small wildlife adjacent to the roads. • Development of five Operational Areas, less than 1 acre aerial extent each, may displace small local wildlife. However, these areas are former mine sites with limited and pre- viously disturbed habitat. 9 http: / /www.butterflyiecoveryorgx/ pecies profiles /uncompahgre fritillary/ available 2010- 07 -20. 10 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1988. Black- footed Ferret Recovery Plan. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Denver, • Colorado 154 pp. 11 http:Hecos.fws.aov/speciesProfile /profile /speciesProfile .action ?spcode =AO73 available 2010- 07 -20. 12 http: / /www.fs.fed.us/ database /feis /animals /mammal /lyca/all.htmi available 2010- 07 -28. May Day Idaho Mine Complex 112(d) Permit Application September 21, 2010 4