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develop and safeguard revegetation that will ultimately provide valuable forage <br />and cover for both wildlife and livestock in accordance with the post-mining land <br />use objectives. <br />4.6.1 Administrative Control of General Impacts to Wildlife <br />Various administrative policies can be helpful in reducing short term impacts to <br />wildlife. populations. The following administrative controls will be carried out <br />as project policies and enforced to the extent practicable. <br />4.6.1.1 Land Disturbance <br />Soils disturbance will be kept to a minimum to reduce the destruction of vegeta- <br />tion and food species used by wildlife. New roads will be established only as <br />needed for a continued safe and efficient mine operation. Prompt revegetation <br />efforts, as outlined in Section 3.6, will aid in reestablishing habitat and thus <br />pre-mine population levels on disturbed areas. <br />4.6.1.2 Hunting <br />Hunting is allowed on the proposed mine plan area by written permission only. <br />In the past several years, big game populations in northwest Colorado have <br />increased, resulting in numerous depredation complaints from land owners as well <br />as heavy use of winter range areas. Hunting is one of the few management tools <br />available to society for controlling big game populations. "Refuges" where there <br />is no hunting, tend to collect animals during hunting seasons as the hunting <br />pressure around them drives the animals to seek safety. This makes it more dif- <br />ficult to control populations by hunting and may also result in overuse of the <br />refuges. Thus, it is not in the interest of big game populations to maintain <br />4-149