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these grasses need to maintain good health. In recent years the natural vegetation was <br />showing signs of stagnation. The grazing has probably introduced a beneficial level of <br />stress in the environment that helps keep the grassland healthy, growing, and <br />developing. However, that was not examined. <br />WEED STATUS: <br />1. General overview of weed status on site: Weeds changed a bit in their species balance <br />and abundances this year. Much of that is undoubtedly due to a wet spring season. <br />A. Status of species that have been present in the past: In the wide, landscape view, <br />spurge density appears to have shifted upwardly in prominence this year due to <br />abundant moisture, but on the whole the spurge populations do not appear to have <br />significantly expanded. They are just more visible due to more vigorous growth. <br />Whether the great growing season this year will result in an increase in the population <br />next year remains to be seen. Spurge continues to be rare to uncommon in reclamation <br />areas. But in bottomland situations it continues to be problematic due to a suitable and <br />rich growth environment in those habitats. That said, recent control efforts and simply <br />a more dense and healthy native vegetation have reduced the spurge population to <br />much less than it was several years ago. The trick will be keeping it at an acceptable <br />level because at this point eradication seems difficult at best and impossible at worst. <br />There is too much spurge upstream and beyond the Lowry Range to hope that it will <br />ever be removed. <br />Tamarix control, begun seven years ago, appears to have reached its goal of <br />eradication. No new plants have been found, but the critical inspection for this species <br />is in August. None are expected, but with increased moisture in the lowland sites <br />longer lived seeds could have germinated. So continued monitoring is necessary until <br />no more plants are found for a couple of consecutive years. <br />Cheatgrass or Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum) had another great growth season in <br />late Spring and early Summer. However, its abundance does not seem to have changed <br />much. That said, this species is so pervasive throughout this part of the Lowry Range <br />it is hard to determine whether it has increased or decreased. In general, its appearance <br />in the vegetation this year has been thoroughly overwhelmed by the rich growth of the <br />native grasses which have done extremely well this year. The grasses and forbs seem <br />to be potent competitors with cheatgrass in good growth years and tends to keep its <br />population a bit lower than it would be otherwise. Make no mistake though, the <br />cheatgrass is still there even though not easily seen in the "ocean" of needlegrass, <br />wheatgrass, and blue grama which is so much richer this year. <br />It is interesting that the burned area near the turn in the access road into the mining pit <br />has changed dramatically in the last year. In 2013 that area was primarily overgrown <br />by cheatgrass with other grasses hardly visible. This year (2015) the cheatgrass is still <br />there in reduced abundance but it has had a hard time achieving the kind of vigor that <br />it can reach when it dominates. Visually, that area is now dominated by needlegrass, <br />Status report for 2015 due July 15, 2015 Page 8 of 10 <br />