communities dominated by non-game species. This represents an apparent shift 

 awav from game species, which have traditionally been the emphasis of wildlife 

 study anS fhe end product of management. Because small mammals such as mice 

 and ground squirrels are considered by some individuals as pests of little val- 



t m nkind some may question the expense of money and effort to ^ ^ Y t 

 creatures These species, however, are vitally important to the integrity of 

 ecosystems w ich are of direct value to man. Small mammals, for examp e, play 

 mjr environmental role by providing food for almost every ver ebrate pr d- 

 ator and by significantly altering vegetation (Korchgen 1952). Also popula 

 tions of individual species are subject to drastic cyclical or random fluct- 

 ns which confound attempts to correlate land-use ^h^"?f,.^f, P°P^ ^J ° 

 rhanaes Community structure exhibits greater long-term stability than does 

 population structure and community changes may thus be more effectively meas- 

 ured ani delated to disruptive impacts which f ^^^^ -"^.^.r^f.^f^ll^^^iSo- 

 single-species population changes (Wiens and Dyer 1975:163) Thus, no compo 

 nents of vertebrate communities were overlooked in this study, as all are 

 acknowledged to be essential to ecosystem structure and function, /his is not 

 ?o say that game or other "featured" species such as raptors or endangered 

 sSecies were given short shrift; on the contrary, these species were subject 

 to intensive autecological study in addition to determining their syneco ogical 

 roles This dual approach should more clearly explain the role or ^niportance 

 of each species in the grassland ecosystem far better than a piecemeal single- 

 species approach, or an approach studying game species only. 



A major consideration in study design was to provide data which would allow 

 both a priori prediction of impacts and a posteriori monitoring to measure 

 actual impacts. 



The approach employed in predicting impacts began by sampling an array of 

 habitats including habitats similar to those likely to be produced by re- 



1 tn, to determine the species present and their population Parameters^ 

 Once these parameters are known for each habitat, then given the type of hab- 

 itat produced by reclamation the characteristics of ^""l^^f °,^,^f,^l 9/" 

 the reclaimed area can be predicted. For example, assume that the initial 

 sampling finds that habitat A contains species x,y, and z in a ^^tio ot 1^- 1 -^ 

 and habitat B contains species x,y, and z in a ratio of 2.20.1. It Jtter re 

 clamation habitat A is replaced by habitat B, then the P':f„^.^tion fo lows t^^^^^ 

 the ratio of species x,y, and z will go from 12:1:2 to 2:20 0. The assumption 

 underlying the validity of this approach is that the parameters measured in 

 each habUat are always characteristic of that habitat. This assumption will 

 be discussed later. 



A further refinement of impact prediction involves use °J/P^^j^^^-'PfJ.^^^3 

 habitat requirements. If the relationship is known between the type of habitats 

 produced by reclamation and the habitat requirements oteacn species, then the 

 species most likely to occupy a habitat produced by reclamation can be predicted. 



In order to monitor mine-related impacts, the use of an approach which 

 enables the observers to distinguish between naturally occurring changes and 

 h es related to mining or reclamation is mandatory. Mere y Jocumen ing 

 changes on the mine site over a period of time is not adequate to ^ jtingu sh 

 between changes relating to mining activity and tnose which ^^^j^ have occurred 

 even in the absence of mining activity. To determine the impact of mining and 



