Laserfiche WebLink
3.0 RESULTS <br />3.1 East and West Pit Summary <br />Tables 1 through 5 and Charts 1 through 3 contain summary data regarding ground cover, <br />production, and woody plant density for the East and West Pit Phase III areas and associated reference <br />areas. Appendix A contains the raw data for all sampled areas. Identification and nomenclature of plant <br />species follows Colorado Flora: Western Slope (Weber and Wittman, 1996). A total of 61 plant species <br />were observed within the East and West Pit Phase III Bond Release areas evaluated in 2013 and 2014 <br />combined. These consisted of 24 grass taxa, 32 forbs, and 5 shrubs as indicated on Table Al (Appendix <br />A). Plates 1 through 8 in Appendix A display typical revegetation for the East and West Pit Phase III <br />areas in 2013 and 2014. <br />3.1.1 2013 Results <br />Ground cover for 2013 in the East and West Pit Phase III Bond Release areas (Table 1 and Chart 1) <br />consisted of 56.16% total plant cover, 0.86% rock, 28.88% litter, and bare ground exposure of 14.09%. <br />Perennial cover across the unit averaged 44.56% with annual and biennial cover averaging 11.60%. <br />Dominant taxa were thickspike wheatgrass (Agropyron dasystachyum), blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia <br />parviflora), basin wildrye (Elymus cinereus), and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) with 11.40%, <br />7.42%, 6.60%, and 4.72% average cover, respectively. With regard to diversity, the Phase III Bond <br />Release Area exhibited 5 perennial grasses with between 3% and 50% relative cover (Table 2). Total <br />relative cover for perennial forbs excluding noxious weeds in the Phase III area was 14.87% (Table 2). <br />Plates 1 through 4 in Appendix A, display typical revegetation in the Phase III area for 2013. <br />Current annual herbaceous production across the Phase III area averaged 1,608.40 pounds per <br />acre, and perennial vegetation contributed 1,563.20 pounds per acre in 2013 with perennial grasses as <br />the dominant category (Table 3 and Chart 3). Table 4 displays the results from 11 shrub patches (with <br />densities greater than 150 stems per acre) that occupy 51.64 acres of the 202.4 acres of Phase III <br />revegetation (25.51%). The 11 shrub patches exhibited an average of 1,265 woody plants per acre. <br />July 2015 Page 14 <br />