2022-02-07_PERMIT FILE - M2022005

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EXHIBIT J Vegetation Information Vegetation information was gathered from the Soil Survey of Weld County, Colorado, Northern Part (United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service), and Vascular Plant Species of the Pawnee National Grasslands (United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-17). Disturbance to vegetation within the proposed permit area is limited to previous grazing by the owner's bison and cattle herds. Upon completion of mining activities, reclamation will seed disturbed areas with a mixture of native grass species. The vegetation in northeastern Colorado is generally classified as a shortgrass prairie ecoregion. The shortgrass prairie has traditionally been separated from other grassland in the Great Plains area on the basis of the relative height of the dominant grasses. This view is no longer held by ecologists. Besides the low rainfall and dominance of short grasses, one of the better means to distinguish between the shortgrass and the midgrass or tall grass prairies is that in the shortgrass region all of the available soil moisture is transpired before the end of the growing season. In general, less than 50 percent of the ground in shortgrass regions is covered by vegetation. This is an important aspect of the proposed permit area for maximizing and determining reclamation success. Most of the uplands are sparsely covered with prairie grasses such as Blue Grama, Buffalo Grass, Western Wheatgrass, and Prairie Sandreed. The height of some grasses may reach 12 inches during periods of maximum growth, but most stands of grass do not reach that height. Within the Lone Tree Creek drainage, a few patches of trees dot the drainage bottom, including cottonwoods and shrubs in deeper, more protected areas of the drainage. Along the creek bottom, low growing sedges and rushes grow intermixed with thicker growth of Blue Grama grass. Carr Pit East DRMS 112 Permit Application Page 23