2016-02-29_REPORT - C1981028 (12)

Home Browse Search

Keenesburg Mine 2015 Vegetation Monitoring Report 64 Reclamation Area 31 Reclamation Area 31 is an 11.92 -acre parcel that was also 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 the fall of 2009. 6.4.1 Vegetation Cover Total vegetation cover of Reclamation Area 31 averaged 41.4% (Table 10) which represents a small increase from the 37.2% observed in 2014. However, total native vegetation cover was only 14.2% down from 17.2% in 2014. It was again necessary to remove cheatgrass from the total vegetation cover value that was used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard resulting in a comparison value of 14.4% for Reclamation Area 31. The three dominant species each contributing to the cover on nine of the ten transects were cheatgrass, prairie sandreed, and sand dropseed. These species along with sixweeks fescue, which provided cover on seven of ten transects, combined to contribute 30% of the total vegetation cover on average. 6.4.2 Herbaceous Production Total herbaceous production within Reclamation Area 31 averaged 60.73 (542 lbs/acre) in 2015 which is a large decrease from the 101.64 g/m2 observed in 2014 (Table 11). Perennial grasses accounted for 51 % of this, while annual grasses contributed 23%, perennial forbs 14%, and annual forbs 12%. Cheatgrass constituted 17% of the total production and total average production without cheatgrass was 52.56 g/m2 (469 lbs/acre) which was the value used for comparison to the success standard. 6.4.3 Species Composition A total of seven life forms and 16 species contributed to the cover data (Table 10) with a total of 25 species encountered along the transects (Appendix A). Twelve grasses and four forbs contributed to the cover data, 14 of which were native and two were introduced (Table 12). There were 11 perennial species and five annual species. Both warm and cool season grass species contributed to the cover, with seven warm season species and five cool season species. Six species contributed more than 3% of relative cover (Table 10) including four warm season perennial native grasses, one cool season annual introduced grass, and one cool season annual native grass. These species in rank order (highest to lowest) include: cheatgrass, prairie sandreed, sixweeks fescue, sand dropseed, sand bluestem, and sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula). Habitat Management, Inc. 14 October 2015