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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 3 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Affected Environment PAGE 3-95 future. JBLM YTC has designated two Sage-Grouse protection zones: primary and secondary. The primary protection zone includes areas that are considered as essential Sage-Grouse habitat. Secondary protection zones provide indirect benefits to Sage-Grouse (JBLM YTC 2002). JBLM YTC began formal monitoring and research in 1989. Telemetry studies have been conducted and Sage-Grouse lek surveys are conducted on an annual basis. Refer to Appendix B-5 - Sage-Grouse Technical Report for additional information JBLM YTC Sage-Grouse management and protection zones. 3.3.4 Route Segment Considerations 3.3.4.1 Route Segment 1a/ NNR-1 Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 is 2.4 miles long and follows Sage Trail Road for the majority of its length, following an existing distribution line and traversing through a rural residential area. This route segment is comprised primarily of disturbed shrub-steppe dominated by annual grasses such as cheatgrass (3,292 acres, 68 percent) and shrub-steppe that has been converted to agriculture (541 acres, 11 percent; Table 3.3-2). Approximately 7.4 percent (324 acres) of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 consists of big sagebrush with an understory of native perennial bunchgrasses. Suitable habitat for shrub-steppe and grassland species is limited. Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 crosses a concrete-lined irrigation canal operated by Roza Irrigation District and several intermittent or ephemeral drainages with no riparian habitat present. Open water is also present within the Yakima River (0.8 miles to the west of Route Segments 1a/NNR-1, NNR- 2, NNR-3, and MR-1) and associated waters of the Selah Gravel Pit wetlands (0.5 miles to the northwest of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1), for a total of 460 acres of open water (9.5 percent). Riparian habitat (12 acres) is present along the Yakima River, west of the route segment. Coho salmon, leopard dace, mountain sucker, pacific lamprey, bull trout, and steelhead (Middle Columbia River) are known or likely to occur in the Yakima River, located to the west of Route Segment 1a/NNR- 1. Bald eagles are known to nest near the Selah Gravel Pit wetlands, located along the Yakima River and west of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1. The Selah Gravel Pit wetlands and East Selah Wetlands are also used by waterfowl. The entire route segment ROW is within the Rattlesnake Hills Sage-Grouse MU (Regularly Occupied Habitat; Table 3.3-8). The eight-mile wide Sage-Grouse analysis area also encompasses area set aside by JBLM YTC as a primary protection zone for Sage-Grouse. This route segment passes through a suburban residential area with heavily fragmented shrub-steppe habitat and a prevalence of disturbed ground and cheatgrass. The eight-mile wide Sage-Grouse analysis area for 1a/NNR-1 contains 6,770 acres of suitable Sage-Grouse habitat (16 percent of the analysis area), 1,374 acres of marginal habitat (three percent), and 35,125 acres of unsuitable habitat (81 percent; Table 3.3-9). The estimated Sage-Grouse population range does not overlap the 1a/NNR-1 ROW. Approximately two percent (3,623 acres) of the JBLM YTC 95 percent population range is within four miles of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 (Figure 3.3-4). The core population range does not overlap the analysis area (Figure 3.3-4). Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 was not surveyed during ground transect Sage-Grouse surveys in 2013 due to lack of suitable habitat within the ROW. No active, inactive or historical leks are known to occur within four miles of this proposed route segment (Table 3.3-5). Sage-Grouse may occur in the area on an infrequent basis, but lack of habitat, estimated population range and lek data indicate that Sage-Grouse are unlikely to lek near Route Segment 1a/NNR-1.