The state route from the French Creek road would start with a new 

 bridge over French Creek, followed by a through fill across the 

 valley (to maintain a grade level with the existing road) , and 

 approximately 200-300 feet of full bench road with end haul of the 

 excavated material. Once out of the SMZ, standard cut and fill 

 construction would continue around the ridge to the NE corner of 

 Unit 8. From this point, the roads proposed for construction are 

 identical to Alternative C. There is a relatively heavy infestation 

 of spotted knapweed along the existing French Creek road. Treatment 

 of this would probably require several years of annual treatments. 



The estimated cost of this permanent road connection, with initial 

 weed treatments would be $38,800.00. ($25,300 more than the 

 Gladstone temporary access.) 



Non-motorized access to state owned lands in Section 14, 22, 23, 24, 

 & 26 is possible via the county road. Persons using these sections 

 for recreational purposes must purchase a Recreational Use License. 



D. 



Bull Elk Survival 



The Gladstone Creek proposals are in hunting District 423 (see 

 Figure 4) . This hunting district lays generally from Lyons Creek 

 and lower Little Prickley Pear Creek, north to Highway 200 and 

 Highway 287 including approximately 212 square miles. The current 

 elk herd numbers approximately 350 animals. 



Elk hunting in this district, as regulated by the DFWP, includes six 

 weeks of archery hunting in September and October, and five weeks of 

 general rifle season hunting in October and November. Hunting 

 regulations for the fall of 1998 specify the following: 



Sept. 5 - Oct. 18 Archery, Brow-tined bull or anterless elk 



Oct. 25 - Nov. 29 Brow-tined bull 



Nov. 21 - Nov. 29 Brow-tined bull or anterless elk 



100 permits by drawing for anterless elk 



There is very little observed hunting season survival of bull elk in 

 all of hunting District 423. The DFWP attributes this poor survival 

 to habitat deficiencies related to high access levels and tree 

 cutting units associated with subdivision and/or logging efforts in 

 this area. Aerial elk observations for the last three years can be 

 seen in Table 8 . 



TABLE 8 

 District 423 Elk Numbers 



26 



