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Cross Gold Mine <br />December 2024 J-1 <br /> <br /> <br />Exhibit J Vegetation Information <br />Vegetation at the Cross Gold Mine consists of a combination of alpine forests, high altitude meadows, <br />and exposed rock outcrops. In various locations in the area, pre-law waste piles from old mines disrupt <br />the natural vegetation communities. Around the Cross Gold Mine areas, disturbance related to mining <br />led to the removal of vegetation. Walsh Environmental Scientists and Engineers, LLC conducted a <br />vegetation study over the Cross Gold Mine Operations Area in 2008. The communities identified in that <br />study can be found throughout the permit and affected areas and are described below. The <br />approximate extents of these communities can be seen on Map C-1. <br />1. Upland Plant Communities <br /> <br />Aspen woodland community is dominated by a relatively closed quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) <br />canopy. A few scattered limber coniferous species contribute a minor component to this canopy and <br />include limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) as well as subalpine fir (Abies <br />bifolia), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and blue spruce (Picea glauca). A lush understory is <br />dominated by graminoids including mountain brome (Bromus marginatus), Timothy (Phleum pratense), <br />and bluegrasses (Poa spp.) Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii) and shrubby cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides <br />floribunda) represent a limited shrub stratum. A diverse forb component is dominated by Alsike clover <br />(J'rifolium hybridum), yarrow (Achillea lanulosa), wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca), silver lupine (Lupinus <br />argenteus), and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). <br /> <br />The limber/lodgepole pine parkland refers to areas of scattered trees with canopy cover of 50 percent <br />or less. In these areas, limber and lodgepole pine trees are scattered amidst meadows comprising the <br />same species found in the upland meadow community. <br /> <br />Aspen and lodgepole pine trees are scattered throughout open meadows with an herbaceous <br />component comprising essentially the same species as found in the upland meadows. <br /> <br />The upland meadow is characterized by Kentucky bluegrass and prairie sagewort forb (Artemisia <br />ludoviciana) as codominants in a species-rich herbaceous community. Other common grasses include <br />smooth brome (Bromopsis inermis), Timothy, Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa),and sun sedge <br />(Carex pensylvanica subsp. heliophila). The most common forbs include sedum (Amerosedum <br />lanceolatum), pussytoes (Antennaria parviflora), fringed sage (Artemisiafrigid), wild geranium <br />(Geranium richardsonii and G. viscossisimum), yarrow (Achillea lanulosa), fringed thistle (Cirsium