2017-02-28_REPORT - C1981028 (30)

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Keenesburg Mine 2016 Vegetation Monitoring Report 6.5 Reclamation Area 31 Reclamation Area 31 is an 11.92 -acre parcel that was also part of the B Pit mining area. This area was graded to blend into the undisturbed area to the west and the reclaimed mining and operational areas to the east resulting in a gentle, east -facing slope. Final revegetation seeding with the DRMS-approved permanent seed mixture took place in the fall of 2009. 6.5.1 Vegetation Cover Total vegetation cover of Reclamation Area 31 averaged 64.8% (Table 13) which was a large increase from the 41.4% observed in 2015. However, total native vegetation cover was consistent with 14.8% compared to 14.2% in 2015. It was again necessary to remove cheatgrass from the total vegetation cover value that was used to compare the Reclamation Area to the Success Standard resulting in a comparison value of 27.4% for Reclamation Area 31 which was an increase from the 14.4% non -noxious cover observed in 2015. The two dominant species each contributing to the cover on all of the ten transects were cheatgrass and sand dropseed. These species combined to contribute 43.6% of the total vegetation cover on average. 6.5.2 Herbaceous Production Total herbaceous production within Reclamation Area 31 averaged 140.2 g/m2 (1,251 lbs/acre) in 2016 which is more than double the 60.7 g/m2 observed in 2015 (Table 14). Perennial grasses accounted for 62% of this, while annual grasses contributed 23%, annual forbs 15%, and perennial forbs only 0.2%. Cheatgrass contributed 22% of the total production and total average production without cheatgrass was 109.2 g/m2 (974 lbs/acre) which was the value used for comparison to the success standard. 6.5.3 Species Composition Sixteen species from eight life forms contributed to the cover data (Table 13) with a total of 31 species encountered along the transects (Appendix A). Ten grasses and six forbs contributed to the cover data, 12 of which were native and four were introduced (Table 15). There were nine perennial species and seven annual species. Both warm and cool season grass species contributed to the cover, with five warm season perennial species, one cool season perennial, three warm season annuals, and one cool season annual. Cheatgrass contributed 59.9% of the total relative cover; however, with cheatgrass removed eight other species contributed more than 3% of the relative cover (Table 13) including four warm season perennial native grasses, one warm season annual native grass, two annual native forbs, and one annual introduced forb. These species in rank order (highest to lowest) include: sand dropseed, prairie sandreed, Canadian horseweed, sand bluestem, Cuman ragweed, prickly lettuce, blue grama, and false buffalograss (Munroa squarrosa). Habitat Management, Inc. 20 October 2016