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land when the reclamation happened. The last choice was alfalfa. Alfalfa was planted, alfalfa grew, <br /> and many other species that were not planted grew as well because they came in on a near 100 year <br /> flood event in 2023 or arrived by migration of seed from adjacent land or came from seed that was <br /> still alive in the upper layers of the prodigious soil stockpile that was used to topsoil the pit floor and <br /> to a lesser extent the side slopes. Also, trees (mostly cottonwood) have invaded along with willows <br /> because many places on the pit floor are within a couple of feet of the water table. One could lightly <br /> graze cattle on the land now, but there are no cattle to put on the land and there haven't been any for <br /> many years. <br /> The land is now developing toward being an Open Bottomland Riparian Forest area dominated by the <br /> same species that grow all along Running Creek which produced the flood in 2023. It therefore seems <br /> appropriate to leave the land use as Rangeland because bottomland forest can be rangeland and very <br /> good rangeland. But it can have many other uses, some of which can co-exist with Rangeland under <br /> the more modern multi-use land concepts. <br /> Wild animals, such as deer, pronghorn and many others have already discovered this new patch of rich <br /> and diverse vegetation that is developing in their world. In essence it has already achieved the level of <br /> being rangeland for wildlife and cattle. But that does not block the use of the land as a recreational <br /> facility for humans. These two uses are quite compatible when planned to serve in that fashion under <br /> multi-use concepts. All over the Front Range Urban Corridor hundreds of such facilities are in <br /> operation now. Furthermore, rangeland can be considered wildlife habitat as easily as wildlife habitat <br /> can be considered rangeland. The two are often compatible. Riparian forest can provide rich grazing <br /> habitat for cattle as well as a rich and diverse wildlife habitat and land that can be used by humans for <br /> recreational purposes. In other words, the current final land use selected in the permitted reclamation <br /> plan, Rangeland, can be appropriately applied to a wide variety of other uses. However,because this <br /> land is within the 100 year flood plain, it is unsuitable for housing or other residential uses. The <br /> bottomland area development for a community amenity will likely be delayed until the second phase <br /> of the development which may begin in 2026 if everything goes as planned. The first phase of the <br /> development, which may begin in early 2025, does not include any major changes (such as building) <br /> within the reclamation area of the Miller Pit permit area. Part of that will occur in 2025 on the land <br /> Page 4 of 11 <br />