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EXHIBIT J <br /> Vegetation Information <br /> Vegetation information was gathered from the Soil Survey of Weld County, Colorado, Northern <br /> Part (United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service), and Vascular Plant <br /> Species of the Pawnee National Grasslands (United States Department of Agriculture, Forest <br /> Service, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-17). <br /> Disturbance to vegetation within the proposed permit area is limited to previous grazing by the <br /> owner's cattle and limited tilling for better grass production. Upon completion of mining <br /> activities, reclamation will seed disturbed areas with a mixture of native grass species. <br /> The vegetation in northeastern Colorado is generally classified as a shortgrass prairie ecoregion. <br /> The shortgrass prairie has traditionally been separated from other grassland in the Great Plains <br /> area on the basis of the relative height of the dominant grasses. This view is no longer held by <br /> ecologists. Besides the low rainfall and dominance of short grasses, one of the better means to <br /> distinguish between the shortgrass and the midgrass or tall grass prairies is that in the shortgrass <br /> region all of the available soil moisture is transpired before the end of the growing season. In <br /> general, less than 50 percent of the ground in shortgrass regions is covered by vegetation. This is <br /> an important aspect of the proposed permit area for maximizing and determining reclamation <br /> success. <br /> Most of the uplands are sparsely covered with prairie grasses such as Blue Grama, Buffalo <br /> Grass, Western Wheatgrass, and Prairie Sandreed. The height of some grasses may reach <br /> 12 inches during periods of maximum growth, but most stands of grass do not reach that height. <br /> There are no trees or shrubs within the proposed permit area. <br /> Lary Two Pit <br /> DBMS 112 Permit Application Page 20 <br />