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Keenesburg Mine 2016 Vegetation Monitoring Report <br />6.3 Reclamation Area 29 <br />Reclamation Area 29 is an 8.1 -acre parcel that was formerly part of the B Pit mining area. This <br />area was graded to blend into the undisturbed area to the west and the reclaimed mining and <br />operational areas to the east resulting in a gentle, east -facing slope. Final revegetation seeding <br />with the DRMS-approved permanent seed mixture took place in 2003. <br />6.3.1 Vegetation Cover <br />Total vegetation cover on Reclamation Area 29 averaged 46.4% (Table 7) which was an increase <br />from the 38.2% cover observed in 2015. However, total native vegetation cover was only 14.4% <br />which was a decrease from 24.0% in 2015. When cheatgrass is removed from the average total <br />cover the value used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard is reduced to <br />38.2%. <br />The two dominant species contributing to the cover in all 10 transects were prickly lettuce and <br />cheatgrass. These two species along with blue grama (a native warm season perennial grass) <br />contributed 35.8% of the average total cover. <br />6.3.2 Herbaceous Production <br />Total herbaceous production within Reclamation Area 29 averaged 236.7 g/m2 (2,111 lbs/acre) <br />in 2016 (Table 8) which is more than double the 90.7 g/m2 production observed in 2015. Annual <br />forbs accounted for 61 % of this production, while perennial grasses accounted for 34%, and <br />annual grasses 5%. Cheatgrass contributed 4% of the total production — down from 15% in 2015 <br />— and average total production without cheatgrass was 229.6 g/m2 (2,048 lbs/acre). This value <br />(without cheatgrass) was used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard. <br />6.3.3 Species Composition <br />Fourteen species from eight life forms contributed to the cover data (Table 7) and 26 species <br />were encountered along the transects (Appendix A). Eight grasses, five forbs, and one shrub <br />species contributed to the cover data, 12 of which were native and two of which were introduced <br />(Table 9). There were nine perennial species and five annual species. Both warm and cool season <br />grass species contributed to the cover, with five warm season perennial species, one cool season <br />perennial, one warm season annual, and one cool season annual. <br />Cheatgrass contributed 18.5% of the total relative cover; however, with cheatgrass removed <br />seven other species contributed at least 3% of the relative cover (Table 7) including four warm <br />season perennial native grasses, one cool season perennial native grass, one warm season annual <br />native grass, and one annual introduced forb. These species in rank order (highest to lowest) <br />include: prickly lettuce, blue grama, sixweeks fescue (Vulpia octoflora), prairie sandreed, sand <br />bluestem, western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), and sand dropseed. <br />Habitat Management, Inc. 14 October 2016 <br />