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Keenesburg Mine 2015 Vegetation Monitoring Report <br />grasses. This weather pattern has likely resulted in nearly complete elimination of cool season <br />grasses along with the increase in cheatgrass and other annual species and the overall decrease in <br />vegetation cover. <br />Table 14: Reclamation Area 29 Relative Cover Trends 2006 - 2015 <br />Life Form <br />2006 <br />Relative Cover <br />2007 2011 <br />2012 <br />2015 <br />Warm Season Perennial Grasses <br />27.0 <br />7.8 <br />64.3 <br />92.2 <br />29.3 <br />Cool Season Perennial Grasses <br />15.5 <br />9.0 <br />6.8 <br />2.2 <br />0.0 <br />Perennial Native Forbs <br />0.6 <br />1.0 <br />2.8 <br />1.5 <br />Annual Native Forbs <br />13.2 <br />31.2 <br />10.4 <br />16.7 <br />Annual Native Grass <br />0.3 <br />15.7 <br />Annual Introduced Forbs <br />30.5 <br />26.8 <br />8.1 <br />10.6 <br />Cheatgrass <br />13.8 <br />24.6 <br />9.1 <br />2.8 <br />26.3 <br />Figure 6: Reclamation Area 29 Absolute Cover 2006 - 2015 <br />60.0 <br />50.0 <br />0 <br />a� <br />40.0 <br />0 <br />U 30.0 <br />a� <br />20.0 <br />10.0 <br />0.0 <br />2006 2007 <br />■ Perennial Native Warm Grass <br />■ Perennial Native Forbs <br />■ Annual Native Grass <br />■ Cheatgrass <br />L] <br />2011 2012 2015 <br />■ Perennial Native Cool Grass <br />Annual Native Forbs <br />■ Annual Introduced Forbs <br />The trend observed on Reclamation Area 30 between 2009 and 2015 sheds some light on trends <br />observed in Reclamation Area 29 (Figure 7, Table 15). In 2009, the area was dominated by cool <br />season perennial grasses which comprised over 72% of the relative cover, while warm season <br />species comprised only 7.8% (Table 15). This result was unexpected given the seed mixture used <br />and the general trends in this region. However, May of 2007 (the first growing season for this <br />site) experienced precipitation that was 186% of average which may have resulted in a flush of <br />cool season grass germination. The subsequent years slowly brought the ratio back to what was <br />anticipated in the seed mixture. The overall trends on this area are similar to those described for <br />Habitat Management, Inc. 19 October 2015 <br />