2013-08-13_PERMIT FILE - X201323004 (2)

Home Browse Search

REMARKS: Cultural Resources: The Area of Potential Effect (APE) of the proposed project was surveyed in 2012 (Conner and Davenport). Two sites that are not eligible to the National Register of Historic Places (Register) and one site that is potentially eligible to the Register were recorded in the APE. The potentially eligible site 5RB7224, is an open camp that was close to the originally proposed access road for drill hole # X -14. Blue Mountain Energy has re- staked this road so that the edge of road disturbance will be at least 100 feet from the edge of the site boundary. The proposed project should have no effect to cultural resources potentially eligible to the Register. Native American Religious Concerns: There are no known Native American religious concerns associated with this project. Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species: The original EA analysis and mitigation are adequate to account for effects attributable to the Proposed Action. The predominant raptor associated with this lease tract is the BLM- sensitive ferruginous hawk, which in this area associates closely with large prairie dog complexes. Based on recent WRFO surveys of the lease tract, there is no evidence suggesting that raptors have nested in the area for 5 or more years. All previously mapped raptor nests in rock outcrop and scattered juniper substrate are missing, decrepit, or have been assumed by magpie or wood rats. No new functional nests were found. Similarly, black - footed ferrets introduced into the Wolf Creek basin beginning in 2001 (about 6 miles east and north of Coal Ridge) have consistently gravitated to WRFO's most contiguous and highest density prairie dog complexes (about 15 miles east of the lease tract). The continuity and abundance of prairie dogs south of Coal Ridge has remained severely reduced since an extensive plague epizootic in 1984. Evidence of recent prairie dog occupation on the lease tract is currently confined to about 47 acres on or near its northern margin. This town is part of a disjointed linear complex composed of small, widely separated towns that are largely inactive at any given time. Accordingly, habitats within the lease tract presently support little prairie dog activity and possess virtually no potential to support ferrets. The lease tract's single burrowing owl nest record (1985) originated just outside the northern margin of the lease tract. Although prairie dog abundance and distribution is severely reduced from the early 1980s, sporadic nesting by a single pair in this draw remains possible. One 0.25 acre drill pad is proposed on the margin of this prairie dog town off an existing two -track and within 75 meters of the frequently travelled and maintained RBC 5. Burrow features that remain open on the pad site involve about 6 single - entrance burrows; no mounded systems would be involved. Although owls nesting under these circumstances would be unlikely, the original conditions of approval call for nest surveys in advance of construction and the application of appropriate timing limitations where necessary. DOI- BLM -CO -110- 2012- 0110 -DNA 6