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ERC Collette Property Borrow Site <br /> Description of Vegetation <br /> 2.0 Methodology <br /> ERC evaluated the project area through desktop review utilizing existing available mapping as follows: <br /> • GoogleEarth Satellite aerial imagery(9/2014) <br /> • ESRI, Digital Globe (8/20/2020) <br /> • USGS Geological Survey(USGS) GAP Analysis Program—Land Cover Data v2.2 <br /> • NatureServe's Ecological System Classification (Faber-Langendoen et al. (2014)) <br /> Next,the data was reviewed,and the general extents and characterization of land use classes and <br /> vegetative cover types were documented within the project area. <br /> 3.0 Project Area Description <br /> The project area comprises 33-acres of relatively steep,west facing slopes with an approximate elevation <br /> of 7,383 above mean sea level. The project area is bound to the north by open shrubland,to the east by <br /> open shrubland and rising topography, to the south by Highway 13 and to the west by Highway 13. The <br /> project area is located in a valley and is surrounded by rolling sagebrush foothills to the west and forested <br /> mountains to the east. <br /> Based on aerial imagery, the landscape of the project area is relatively natural and lacks significant <br /> disturbance or fragmentation. The northern portion of the project area has a two-track dirt road which <br /> bisects the project area in a west/east route. <br /> 4.0 Vegetative Cover Type <br /> One land use class was identified by ERC within the project area and is classified as the southern rocky <br /> mountain montane shrubland. The vegetative cover type is based on NatureServe's Ecological System <br /> Classification per the USGS GAP Analysis land cover data set.A detailed summary of the vegetative cover <br /> type is detailed below. <br /> Southern Rocky Mountain Montane Shrubland <br /> Southern Rocky Mountain Montane Shrubland is found in the foothills, canyon slopes and montane zone <br /> of mountains of the southern Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau, including the Uinta and Wasatch <br /> ranges and the Mogollon Rim and extends out onto outcrops and canyon slopes in the western and <br /> southern Great Plains. The vegetation is characterized by an open to dense tall or short, broad-leaved <br /> deciduous shrub canopy typically dominated by alderleaf mountain mahogany, antelope bitterbrush <br /> (Purshia tridentata), and/or gambel oak, which occasionally reaches small tree size. Many other <br /> characteristic shrubs may be codominant such as Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), big <br /> sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Fendler's ceanothus (Ceanothus fendleri), chokecherry (Prunus <br /> virginiana), gambel species (Quercus pauciloba), skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata), wax currant (Ribes <br /> cereum),wood's rose(Rosa woodsia),western snowberry(Symphoricarpos oreophilus),and round-leaved <br /> snowberry (Symphoricarpos rotundifolius). The herbaceous layer is sparse to moderately dense and <br /> dominated by perennial graminoids with cover ranging 0-40%.The typical herbaceous species within the <br /> landscape are comprised of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Sideoats grama (Bouteloua <br /> curtipendula), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus), and needle <br /> 2 <br />