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Baseline fish and wildlife information is contained in Tab 11 of the permit <br />application package. The fish and wildlife mitigation plan is located in Tab 23. <br />Seneca Coal Company developed a wildlife monitoring and mitigation plan in <br />conjunction with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) and the United States <br />Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Annual surveys conducted through August <br />2009 monitored large game populations and use of reclaimed areas, raptor nesting <br />in the permit area, presence and use of the mine area by sage grouse, Columbian <br />sharp-tailed grouse, and blue grouse, and presence of any endangered or <br />threatened species in the permit area. <br />Short and long term impacts to wildlife identified in the permit application <br />package relate to habitat loss. One of the post mine land uses which the <br />reclamation plan aims to reestablish is wildlife habitat. Habitat loss was mitigated <br />by including measures to reestablish wildlife habitat during contemporaneous <br />reclamation of disturbed areas, and by avoidance of impacts during operations. <br />Those measures include, <br />* use of beneficial native plants in the reclamation seed mix, <br />* establishment of shrub and/or tree islands to provide cover and <br />roosting areas in the reclaimed areas, <br />* establishment of rock and slash piles for cover and roosting areas <br />in the reclaimed areas, <br />* avoidance of disturbance in buffer zones in bottomlands, <br />* avoiding disturbance of active raptor nests in the disturbed area <br />and/or relocating those nests. <br />1. The applicant has proposed the use of persistent pesticides on the <br />site during mining and/or reclamation operations. One or more of <br />seven herbicides listed in Table 22-11 of the permit application <br />may be used to control noxious weeds in the mine area. The <br />Division proposes to approve this usage. (4.18(5)(g)). <br />2. Fish and wildlife habitat is a planned post mining land use. The <br />applicant has selected appropriate plant species and distributions to <br />benefit fish-and wildlife. Refer to Section VIII of this document <br />for additional discussion of the revegetation seed mix. (4.18(5)(i)). <br />X. Operations on Alluvial Valley Floors <br />Two alluvial valley floor (AVF) studies were performed on Sage and Grassy Creek <br />and their tributaries in the vicinity of the Yoast permit area. This information is <br />found in Tab 16 of the permit application package. <br />As a result of 1992-93 AVF studies, Seneca Coal Company concluded there are no <br />AVF's in the Grassy Creek watershed in hydrologic communication with the Yoast <br />Yoast Mine 37 December 15, 2010