2016-07-14_PERMIT FILE - M2016010

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Transit Mix Concrete Co. EXHIBIT J VEGETATION INFORMATION I. Federally Listed Plant Species The Hitch Rack Ranch Quarry property is within the geographic range of the federally threatened Ute ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), a species of orchid. The Ute ladies'-tresses is the only federally listed plant species with potential habitat in the property area. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) requested that habitat surveys be conducted for this species. Ute ladies'-tresses is a perennial species growing from a tuber. Leaves emerge in the spring, followed by a flowering stalk with many flowers that bloom from roughly mid-to-late-July to the end of August. After fruiting the stalk and leaves wither. The species grows in seasonally moist soils and wet meadows near springs, lakes, or perennial streams and their associated floodplains, generally below 6,500 feet elevation in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. Ute ladies'-tresses grows primarily in open areas lacking dense overstory vegetation. The species is not known to occur on the Site, but may occur in suitable habitat along the lower reaches of Little Turkey Creek and its southern tributary, or around the lake and ponds. The species is known to occur in El Paso County along Fountain Creek and at a few other Front Range sites. A habitat assessment was completed for the species in April 2016. After the survey was completed Transit Mix personnel met with the USFWS personnel onsite and they agreed that no suitable habitat exists within the project area and that a species survey was not necessary. II. Vegetation Community Descriptions The property supports seven vegetation communities commonly associated with the foothills and/or piedmont of eastern Colorado, as shown in Appendix A, Figure 1. Forest and woodland dominate the northern third of the property that extends into the foothills, and shrubland and grassland dominate the southern two-thirds of the property located in the lower foothills and upper reaches of the piedmont. Much of the property is characterized by a community that intergrades between pinyon-juniper woodland, mountain shrubland, and ponderosa pine forest. There are areas where the vegetation can be assigned clearly to pinyon-juniper or ponderosa pine due to the moderate to high density of the principal tree or shrub species. Large areas, however, cannot. Mountain shrubland tends to be the most variable of these three communities in terms of species composition, and for this reason, stands that intergrade between the three community types have been assigned to mountain shrubland. Height and absolute cover of the principal plant species were estimated in two to five representative stands of each community type across the property. Given the high variability in species composition in most communities, principal species may not be found in all stands of any one community. Cover was estimated as the midpoint of a series of cover classes, as follows: 2.5 (0.1-5%), 7.5 (5-10%), 15 (10-20%), 30 (20-40%), 50 (40-60%), 70 (60-80%), 90 (80-100%). Height estimates represent predominant height. Hitch Rack Ranch Quarry Permit Application M-2016-010 July 14, 2016 J-2