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Keenesburg Mine 2016 Vegetation Monitoring Report <br />6.2 Reclamation Area 25 <br />Reclamation Area 25 is a 12.6 -acre parcel east of the long-term spoil area. This area was graded <br />to blend into the reclaimed areas resulting in a gentle, southwest -facing slope. Revegetation <br />seeding with the DRMS-approved permanent seed mixture took place in 1995, but was repeated <br />in 2002 due to insufficient vegetation cover. <br />6.2.1 Vegetation Cover <br />Total vegetation cover on Reclamation Area 25 averaged 45.6% (Table 4); however, total native <br />vegetation cover was only 21.8%. When cheatgrass is removed from the average total cover the <br />value used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard is reduced to 33.6%. <br />The only species contributing to the cover in all 10 transects was cheatgrass which contributed <br />12% of the average total cover. Cuman ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya, a native annual forb), <br />prickly lettuce, and sand dropseed (a native warm season perennial grass) were also observed on <br />all transects and together with the cheatgrass contributed 32.2% of the average total cover. <br />6.2.2 Herbaceous Production <br />Total herbaceous production within Reclamation Area 25 averaged 185.5 g/m2 (1,655 lbs/acre) <br />in 2016 (Table 5). Annual forbs accounted for 77% of this production, while perennial grasses <br />accounted for 18%, annual grasses 4%, and perennial forbs 1%. Cheatgrass constituted only 3% <br />of the total production and average total production without cheatgrass was 179.6 g/m2 (1,602 <br />lbs/acre). This value (without cheatgrass) was used to compare the Reclamation Area to the <br />Success Standard. <br />6.2.3 Species Composition <br />Sixteen species from seven life forms contributed to the cover data (Table 4Table 7) and 33 <br />species were encountered along the transects (Appendix A). Ten grasses and six forbs <br />contributed to the cover data, 13 of which were native and three of which were introduced (Table <br />6). There were eight perennial species and eight annual species. Both warm and cool season <br />grass species contributed to the cover, with five warm season perennial species, two warm <br />season annual species, and one cool season annual species. <br />Cheatgrass contributed 31.3% of the total relative cover; however, with cheatgrass removed eight <br />other species contributed more than 3% of the relative cover (Table 4) including two warm <br />season perennial native grasses, three annual native forbs, two annual introduced forbs, and one <br />perennial native forb. These species in rank order (highest to lowest) include: Cuman ragweed, <br />prickly lettuce, sand dropseed, Russian thistle (Salsola tragus), common sunflower (Helianthus <br />annuus), prairie sandreed (Calamovilfa longifolia), Bigelow's tansyaster (Machaeranthera <br />biglovii), and western daisy fleabane (Erigeron bellidiastrum). <br />Habitat Management, Inc. 11 October 2016 <br />