RECOMMEUDATIOtJS FOR MONITORING 



RATIONALE 



The baseline study was designed to provide a description of the wildlife 

 resources of the study area as it exists before mining. Another objective of 

 the baseline study was to allow a priori prediction of the impact which may re- 

 sult from the proposed facility. Ideally, long-term monitoring of the disturbed 

 area would document the nature and magnitude of actual impact as well as deter- 

 mine the success of reclamation efforts in restoring pre-mining conditions. How- 

 ever, it is well known that wildlife populatiois can fluctuate dramatically from 

 year to year, and a one-year baseline study as reported here cannot measure the 

 magnitude and periodicity of such year-to-year fluctuations as weather-related 

 changes and natural population cycles. As Buffington (1975) puts it, "even ad- 

 equately sampled parameters over a given year will capture only that year's dy- 

 namics". For example, 1977 was an abnormally dry year on the proposed mining 

 area, and the low densities of waterfowl observed are by no means typical. Also, 

 big game distributions and population characteristics change with changing hunting 

 regulations. Thus, in addition to documenting impact, long-term monitoring pro- 

 vides an essential continuation and refinement of the baseline study. 



Any monitoring program which attempts to document impacts must be capable 

 of discriminating those changes resulting from the proposed project from those 

 reflecting such natural variation; that is, it must be capable of detecting a 

 signal against the background noise of biological systems. The monitoring pro- 

 gram proposed here will measure and compare long-term changes in species and 

 community parameters for control (undisturbed) and experimental (disturbed) areas. 

 It is assumed that natural variations will affect both types of sites similarly. 

 Should experimental plots show a significantly different long-term pattern of 

 variation following disturbance, that difference should be attributable to the 

 disturbance. 



PLAN OF STUDY 



The plan of study proposed here has been designed to make maximum use of 

 the data collected during the baseline wildlife study and the methods and tech- 

 niques developed during this study. The approach taken involves long-term 

 sampling, both of areas on the proposed mining area (experimental sites) and 

 outside this area (control sites) in order that mine-related changes may be 

 distinguished from natural region-wide biological fluctuations. Emphasis has 

 been placed on monitoring of mine-related rather than plant-related impact, as 

 required by the Department of State Lands. 



General Ground and Aerial Surveys 



Monthly aerial flights of the mine study area are suggested; two flights 

 should be made each month during January and February. 



All observations (both ground and aerial) of large mammals, upland game 

 birds, and raptors made in the reconnaissance study area and along the roadside 



195 



