The problems of poaching and road-kills are aggravated when 

 mine roads cross wildlife movement zones and when shift 

 changes coincide with wildlife early morning and evening 

 feeding periods. The magnitude of the wildlife-vehicle col- 

 lision problem is pointed out by the British Columbia Re- 

 sources Analysis Branch and Fish and Wildlife Branch (RAB 

 and F&WB 1979 ) who indicate that "over 1.5 million deer 

 are believed to be killed annually on highways in North 

 America together with uncounted millions of smaller species". 

 Road-killed deer, raptors and small mammals have been lo- 

 cated on roads in the Mount Vernon mine area, and these 

 losses will likely increase with increasing numbers of ve- 

 hicles on local roads. According to Klimstra (1979): 



In a comparison of population and vehicle registra- 

 tion trends in mining impacted areas of northwest 

 Colorado, population growth rates have been 4 7 per- 

 cent and 19 percent in 2 counties over a 5-year 

 period. During that same period registrations for 

 recreational trucks increased over 558 percent in 

 1 county and 383 percent in the other. 



Indirect wildlife mortality may result from the follow- 

 ing stress inducing factors: subdivisions, domestic animal 

 harassment and noise. Subdivisions and other conflicting 

 land uses constitute a direct, often expansive loss of wild- 

 life habitat which, perhaps more seriously, "could break up 

 the continuity of winter ranges to the extent that what re- 

 mains will not support animals" (RAB and F&WB 1979) . The 

 DSL-KNF EIS (1979) cites that approximately 47.75 square km 



(11,800 acres) of land in the direct impact area (including 

 the Troy area) are under private ownership and will most 

 likely experience rapid land use changes. Established resi- 

 dential areas throughout the Lake Creek Valley are likely 

 to expand; these sites include: the areas at the mouths 

 of Camp, Crowell, Felix, Copper, Twin, Falls and Lake creeks; 

 east shore of Bull Lake and the west side of Lake Creek from 

 Copper Creek north to Highway 2. Domestic animal harass- 

 ment can significantly contribute to herd losses of wildlife 



(Klimstra et al. 1979) while at the same time the public will 

 not tolerate large predatory species of wildlife and will de- 

 mand increased predator control (RAB and F&WB 1979) . Wild- 

 life may acclimate to constant noise, but "habituation is 

 least likely to occur and long-term displacement is more 

 likely when disturbances are irregular or erratic. Such is 

 the case with sporadic traffic on primitive mountain roads" 



(Thompson 1977) . Ultimately, the burden of wildlife impacts 

 from development of the Mount Vernon mine will come to rest 

 with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks 



(MDFWP) who will be responsible to deal with: industrial 

 pollution problems, public enquiries, habitat management 

 procedures, nuisance animal control and other demands which 

 an increasing human population will generate. 



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