Wildlife Specialist report
Wildlife Specialist report
Wildlife Specialist report
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nesting. The deepest parts of the tunnel system are between one and three yards<br />
underground. Gophers block tunnel entrances with dirt, to prevent predator entry. This<br />
species is fairly common on the Gila National Forest.<br />
The Hooded skunk and Botta’s pocket gopher have been selected as focal species for<br />
small mammals that occur in Desert shrub/grasslands, and pinon-juniper/shrub oak<br />
woodlands. For the analysis of this species the analysis indicators (road miles and acres<br />
of potential disturbance) will analyze the change in these habitats by alternative from the<br />
existing condition.<br />
Gunnison’s prairie dog (Forest Service Sensitive Species Representative of Plains<br />
and Mountain Grasslands Vegetation Cover Types) – This species occurs in New<br />
Mexico in the following habitat type(s): The mixed shrub habitat type occurs in lower<br />
elevations below the mesas (elevation less than 6700 ft. or 2043 m). Broom snakeweed<br />
is the dominant plant species. Rubber rabbitbrush and fourwing saltbush are interspersed<br />
with sparse stand of big sagebrush. The sagebrush habitat type is found below the mesas<br />
and is composed of dense stands of big sagebrush. Some small areas are dominated by<br />
blue grama grass, western wheatgrass, cheatgrass, and squirreltail grass. Bare ground is<br />
prevalent in some areas (BISON-M, 2009). The juniper habitat type which is located in<br />
the Zuni River valley bottom is dominated by one seed juniper with an occasional pinon<br />
pine and alligator juniper. Shrubs scattered throughout this type include big sagebrush,<br />
broom snakeweed, and rubber rabbitbrush. Grasses in this type include blue grama grass,<br />
crested wheatgrass, red three-awn, cheatgrass, sixweeks fescue, Indian ricegrass, and<br />
squirreltail grass (grazing has been heavy in juniper areas). These animals live in<br />
grasslands in the northern and western part of the state where the black-tailed prairie dogs<br />
do not occur. Gunnison's prairie dogs have been found to inhabit Great Basin Desert<br />
Scrub habitat in New Mexico (BISON-M, 2009). The southern limit of this species is<br />
reached in the Mogollon Mountains of southwestern New Mexico, may be extirpated or<br />
is uncommon on the Gila National Forest.<br />
White Mountains Ground Squirrel (Forest Service Sensitive Species Representative<br />
of Plains and Mountain Grasslands Vegetation Cover Types) - The thirteen-lined<br />
ground squirrel is a grassland species that is common only in the shortgrass plains of the<br />
northeastern part of New Mexico. Where there are relict grasslands in the foothills and<br />
valleys of certain mesic mountain ranges, small isolated colonies are sometimes found,<br />
for example, in the Sacramento Mountains, around the periphery of the San Augustin<br />
Plains, and in the White Mountains of Arizona. V. Bailey (1932) <strong>report</strong>ed them common<br />
in parks in the ponderosa forest of the Sacramentos, but we have found them very hard to<br />
observe and very uncommon in any montane areas (BISON-M, 2009). This species is<br />
uncommon on the Gila National Forest.<br />
The Gunnisons’s prairie dog and White Mountain ground squirrel have been selected as<br />
focal species for small mammals that occur in plains and mountain grasslands. For the<br />
analysis of this species the analysis indicators (road miles and acres of potential<br />
disturbance) will analyze the change in these habitats by alternative from the existing<br />
condition.<br />
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