2016-02-29_REPORT - C1981028 (12)

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Keenesburg Mine 2015 Vegetation Monitoring Report 6.2 Reclamation Area 29 Reclamation Area 29 is an 8.1 -acre parcel that was formerly part of the B Pit mining area. This area was graded to blend into the undisturbed area to the west and the reclaimed mining and operational areas to the east resulting in a gentle east -facing slope. Final revegetation seeding with the DRMS-approved permanent seed mixture took place in 2003. 6.2.1 Vegetation Cover Total vegetation cover on Reclamation Area 29 averaged 38.2% (Table 4); however, total native vegetation cover was only 24.0%. When cheatgrass is removed from the average total cover the value used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard is reduced to 28.2%. The two dominant species contributing to the cover in all 10 transects were prickly lettuce and cheatgrass. These two species along with sixweeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora, a native cool season annual grass, and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis, a native warm season perennial grass) contributed 24.8% of the average total cover. 6.2.2 Herbaceous Production Total herbaceous production within Reclamation Area 29 averaged 90.69 g/m2 (809 lbs/acre) in 2015 (Table 5). Annual forbs accounted for 35% of this production, while annual grasses accounted for 30%, perennial grasses 28%, and perennial forbs 7%. Cheatgrass constituted 15% of the total production and average total production without cheatgrass was 77.75 g/m2 (694 lbs/acre). This value (without cheatgrass) was used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard. 6.2.3 Species Composition A total of six life forms and 15 species contributed to the cover data (Table 4). A total of 20 species were encountered along the transects (Appendix A). Seven grasses and eight forbs contributed to the cover data, 13 of which were native and two of which were introduced (Table 6). There were eight perennial species and seven annual species. Both warm and cool season grass species contributed to the cover, with five warm season species and two cool season species, both of which were annual. Seven species contributed more than 3% of the relative cover (Table 4) including three warm season perennial native grasses, one cool season annual native grass, one cool season annual introduced grass, tone annual native forb, and one annual introduced forb. These species in rank order (highest to lowest) include: cheatgrass, sixweeks fescue, blue grama, Canadian horseweed, prickly lettuce, sand dropseed, and prairie sandreed (Calamovilfa longifolia). Habitat Management, Inc. 10 October 2015