2011-09-29_PERMIT FILE - M2009056

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cultural resources inventory [see Report CR- RG -10 -33 (P)], and no possible traditional cultural properties or sacred sites were found. There is no other known evidence that suggests the project area holds special significance for Native Americans. BLM conducted a consultation with the following potentially interested Native American tribes: Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Cheyenne River Lakota Tribe, Comanche Tribe of Oklahoma, Crow Creek Sioux, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Northern Arapaho Tribe, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Northern Ute Tribe, Oglala Lakota Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Shoshone Tribe, Southern Ute Tribe, Standing Rock Lakota Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. No concerns were identified. PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES Affected Environment: The Paleontologic Resources Preservation Act protects paleontological resources on Federal land using scientific principles and expertise. Paleontologic resources are defined as "any fossilized remains, traces, or imprints of organisms, preserved in or on the earth's crust, that are of paleontologic interest and that provide information about the history of life on earth ". Paleontologic resources are classified in the Royal Gorge Field Office (RGFO) using a Fossil Yield Potential Classification (FYPC). The RGFO FYPC is a five tiered classification system that ranks the paleontologic importance of Public Lands based on geologic formation descriptions and fossil locations. The geologic formations are classified according to how likely a geologic unit to produce Federally protected fossils based on literature review and the experience of finding fossils in that particular formation or similar formations. Class 1 formations are the lowest ranking and least likely to contain protected paleontologic resources and class 5 being the highest, most important ranking. The project area contains Pleistocene glacial outwash that is most likely pre -Bull Lake in age. Glacial geologic formations are classified as Class 2 using the RGFO FYPC. Class 2 paleontologic units are sedimentary geologic units that are not likely to contain vertebrate fossils or their traces or scientifically significant invertebrate or plant fossils. Environmental Effects Proposed Action Direct and Indirect Impacts: Class 2 paleontologic units are not likely to contain protected paleontologic resources but there is a small chance that fossils can be present therefore the potential for direct and indirect impacts to fossils may exist. These impacts can be mitigated. Direct impacts associated with the proposed project would be the loss or destruction of paleontologic resources during excavation of Pleistocene gravels. Indirect impacts associated with the proposed project would include the unauthorized collection of scientifically important fossils from federal lands. Direct and indirect impacts can be successfully mitigated and even potentially construed as beneficial impacts. If these resources happened to be encountered during the implementation of this proposal, the discovery and the scientific information associated with them would be properly excavated and stored in a federally approved facility. 38