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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 003191 The Arkansas River valley lies within the Southwestern Tablelands ecoregion that is transitional between the Southern Rocky Mountain and Western High Plains ecoregions (Bailey 1976). The native plant community outside the Arkansas River flood plain is comprised of short, prairie grasses that are utilized primarily as rangeland for grazing livestock although there is also a significant amount of dry land fanning. Common prairie grass species include blue grama, side- oats grama, buffalo grass, galleta, alkali sacaton, sand dropseed, western wheatgrass, and three- awn. Throughout the lower Arkansas River Valley and below the irrigation canals, agricultural land predominates, often directly abutting the restricted riparian corridor and river channel although much of the irrigated cropland north of John Martin Reservoir has been abandoned. Historically, riparian vegetation along the Arkansas River consisted of plains cottonwood, sandbar willow and, less extensively, peach-leaf willow. The cottonwoods, some of which grew to great sizes, grew in dispersed groves along the banks and on islands in the river, and lacked a shrub understory. In a few locations, sandhill plum, wild grapes, and other bushes and shrubs also occurred, The no-action alternative would have no effect on the eXisting conditions of local vegetation at the John Martin Project. The CSP proposal and the South Beach alternative provide for the development and construction of a Visitor Center Complex and four (4) designated day-use areas including minor realignment of access roads in the Sandstone Recreation Area and for the construction of a new campground in the Overlook Recreation Area. The land surface in the location proposed for the Visitor Center Complex and at existing access roads in the Sandstone Recreation Area has been previously disturbed by earth moving activities. The areas proposed for the four (4) designated day-use areas have been impacted by recreational use and by vehicles driving across and parking on the land surface; however, subsurface disturbance is minimal. The Visitor Center Complex, that would cover about 4.1 acres, would provide for a large office building, a landscaped plaza area, and 20 pull-through, 18 standard, and 2 ADA parking sites. The four (4) designated day-use areas would disturb about 3.2 acres of land. The new Overlook campground would occupy land that is mostly undisturbed and construction would disturb about 50 acres of public land. Therefore, the Colorado State Parks' proposal would disturb a total of about 57.3 acres. A benefit in constructing the designated day- use areas and roadways would be that vehicles would be required to use only those areas and roads and would be prohibited from unrestricted driving and parking. This would allow the local vegetation to recover from the existing traffic and unrestricted use. 3.2.1.1 Noxious Weed Management No comprehensive inventory of noxious weeds currently has been taken on the lands involved in the proposed action. During the early-to-mid 1900s, tamarisk (salt cedar) invaded and colonized much of the flood plain of the lower Arkansas River in Colorado. Another non- native tree, Russian olive was also introduced around this time and is colonizing riverbanks. Salt cedar and Russian olive are considered recurring problems in the recreation management transfer areas due to their extensive displacement of native riparian species and encroachment on the river channel. 24