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Interior Least Tern <br />• Interior least terns are relatively small shorebirds that are one of three subspecies <br />of least tern distributed across the central United States. The least tern was listed <br />as endangered in 1996. Least terns breed and summer along drainages of the <br />interior United States including those of the greater Mississippi River system and <br />winter in the Caribbean islands. Least terns feed and nest along sand bars and <br />gravelly areas within drainageways and drainage courses. They are susceptible to <br />vegetation encroachment on stable sand bars as well as predation by mammals to <br />their ground nests (NatureServe, 2006). As there are no depletions from the <br />Keenesburg Mine that affect flows within the South Platte River drainage, there is <br />no potential for impacts to the Least Interior Tern. <br />Mexican Spotted Owl <br />The Mexican spotted owl inhabits canyon and mountain forest habitats across a <br />range that includes portions of southern Utah and Colorado, through Arizona. <br />(USFWS, 2006a). As the Keenesburg Mine lies outside the range of the Mexican <br />spotted owl, and there is no owl habitat within the mine, the likelihood of impacts <br />to the owl are insignificant. <br />Pallid Sturgeon <br />Pallid sturgeons are lazge toothless primitive elasmobranch fish of the Mississippi <br />and Missouri River systems. These fish frequent backwaters, sloughs, and main <br />channels of braided river channels within the above rivers. They aze particularly <br />well adapted to turbid and fluctuating river conditions chazacteristic of the <br />Mississippi and Missouri Rivers prior to control activities (USDI, 2006b). The <br />pallid sturgeon has declined due to changes to seasonal hydrologic flows, loss of <br />spawning cues, habitat loss, and reduced prey productivity. As there aze no <br />depletions from the Keenesburg Mine that affect flows within the South Platte <br />River drainage, there is no potential for impacts to the pallid sturgeon. <br />Piping Plovers <br />Piping plovers aze relatively small ground nesting shorebirds of the central and <br />eastern United States and Canada. Within the northern Great Plains, piping <br />plovers depend on alkali lakes and wetlands, as well as sandy or gravelly islands, <br />beaches, or sandbazs along lakes, rivers, and reservoirs (USDI, 2006c). These <br />areas aze used for courtship, nesting, foraging, shelter, brood rearing, and <br />dispersal. The piping plover was designated threatened in 1986, and is found <br />within the central United States, the eastern and Gulf of Mexico coastal <br />seaboards. As there are no depletions from the Keenesburg Mine that affect flows <br />• within the South Platte River drainage, there is no potential for impacts to the <br />Piping Plover. <br />96a 10/06 <br />