Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Common
Name
MIS
Habitat
Type
Mule deer Piñonjuniper
Juniper
titmouse
Piñonjuniper
Acres in
Sections 9,
10, and 16
Habitat Description
376 Early stages of plant
succession with an
abundance of browse plants
are more beneficial to mule
deer than late stages.
Mixtures of plant species are
preferable to single species
plant communities. Food
requirements for deer
average about 5 to 7 pounds
of green forage per day.
376 The juniper titmouse prefers
warm, dry habitats of open
piñon-juniper woodland
sometimes mixed with oak.
It is most common where
juniper is dominant and
where large, mature trees are
present to provide cavities
for nesting.
Existing
Forestwide
Habitat Trend
Stable Down
Stable Down
Existing
Forestwide
Population
Trend
In the “Cibola National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan” (LRMP) Rocky Mountain
elk was selected as a management indicator species for the mountain grasslands and mixed
conifer habitat found on the forest. The justification for this selection reads as follows: “Elk –
grazer, fairly adaptable, not representative over entire forest, however, a good indicator of
meadow types in those areas where it does appear. Easily monitored and identified. Is a species of
high public interest and can be managed for.”
At the time the LRMP was approved in 1985, elk were a popular, but not necessarily widespread
game species. Elk numbers were considered an index for the extent and health of the mountain
grasslands and mixed conifer habitat types. Limiting factors at the time the Cibola LRMP was
approved were believed to be hiding cover (mixed conifer) and forage (mountain meadows). It is
now recognized that elk are far more adaptable than previously believed, and occupy a wide
variety of habitats at all times of the year.
Elk are grazers as well as browsers and their diet consists of shrubs, trees, and grasses. Starting in
spring, elk migrate up to higher mountain pastures and as mating season begins, the elk move
back to lower valleys. During winter they inhabit wooded slopes and dense woods of the lower
valleys (eduscapes, 1999). Suitable grazing, calving, and winter range habitat exists within the
permit area. Rocky Mountain elk appear to have been successfully reintroduced in many places
throughout its range and existing forestwide population trend is up within the Cibola National
Forest (USFS, 2005 MIS Report) .
Rocky Mountain elk were documented in the site during all survey periods. Suitable grazing,
calving, and winter range habitat exists within the permit area (RHR, 2009d). In the Cibola
LRMP EIS, page 142, mountain grasslands were determined to cover approximately 1 percent of
222 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest