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• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />A new area that is more representative of the greasewood vegetation community was <br />selected and sampled to serve as a reference azea for the Powderhorn Coal Company <br />Roadside and Cameo Mines. The new greasewood reference area is located on a colluvial <br />terrace and toeslope northwest of the Cameo Refuse Disposal Area No. 1. Vegetation <br />cover by species, total herbaceous production by lifeform, woody plant density by species, <br />and species composition were all quantitatively sampled at the new reference area <br />location. A comparison of the new greasewood reference area with the original <br />greasewood reference area revealed neazly equal vegetation cover, greater species <br />numbers on the new reference azea, significantly greater herbaceous production, and 31 <br />percent higher woody plant density. Overall, the new reference area represents a more <br />open and more xeric vegetation community, more typical of those found in the mine <br />permit area. <br />I. INTRODUCTION <br />The current greasewood reference area at the Powderhom Coal Company Roadside and <br />• Cameo Mines is located north of the Colorado River and immediately adjacent to the <br />railroad grade and conveyor serving the mine, as well as the Highline Canal. Over the <br />years it became apparent to bosh Powderhorn Coal Company and the Colorado Division <br />of Minerals and Geology (CDMG) that this specific greasewood community, in this <br />location, was not particularly representative of the greasewood communities that have <br />been disturbed at the mine. Nor is the greasewood reference area community <br />representative of the greasewood vegetation community to be re-established at the mine <br />during reclamation (Dan Mathews, personal communication). As this posed a concern in <br />developing feasible revegetation success criteria for revegetated greasewood communities <br />at the mines, Powderhorn Coal Company, the Colorado Division of Minerals and <br />Geology, and Savage and Savage evaluated options for selecting a new, representative <br />greasewood reference area. Based on an on-site investigation, May 18, 1999, an azea was <br />selected as the new greasewood reference area. <br />The new greasewood reference area is located approximately 1,500 feet northwest of the <br />Cameo Refuse Disposal Area No. 1 along the east-facing colluvial toeslope adjacent to the <br />BLM Book Cliffs access road and the ephemeral drainage. The Roadside and Cameo <br />Mines are located in Mesa County, Colorado, nine miles east of Grand Junction, Colorado <br />and are accessed by Interstate Highway 70 at Cameo. <br />This report presents the results of the baseline vegetation sampling undertaken to <br />characterize the new greasewood reference area in 1999. Four vegetation parameters <br />• were quantitatively sampled; total vegetation cover by species, total herbaceous <br />production by lifefotm, woody plant density by species, and species composition. <br />-I- <br />