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the only place where this situation consistently exists is within the mitigation areas where grazing has been eliminated. Outside the mitigation areas, abundant cottonwood and willow seedlings are found, but few of those ever achieve the dimensions of those commonly found in the mitigation areas because they are eaten by cattle long before they can achieve that size. C. Fencing -The two mitigation areas were fenced and the fences have generally been maintained. Unfortunately, in the stream course area itself, the fences would sometimes be damaged by high flows and occasionally a few cattle would sneak into the mitigation areas and had to be chased out. So the mitigation areas, quite honestly, have not had complete protection from grazing throughout their existence. But it is clear that in spite of what little grazing did occur, no damage of any significance occurred. The statements made in item B. above would still be true even if grazing had been totally eliminated. In other words, the encroachment of a few cattle once in a great while did not do any measurable damage to the mitigation effort. In fact, that situation further supports the contention that if cattle grazing is eliminated (or limited to an occasional stray at most) the riparian forest units will redevelop even without any additional planting. But if that fencing does not occur then with or without planting, there is not a great deal of hope that the riparian forest units will ever redevelop. Goal 3- To monitor the water table so as to have a reference as to what elevation existing and new trees would be obtaining water. This was also done to monitor the effects of streambed mining on the water table. Achievements: Annual submission of the monitoring well data has been done. Although it was shown that the water table did decline as a result of mining, its decline was limited where the sand removal was limited. In both locations where monitoring wells are present, wetland has either developed or is developing. Furthermore, tree death in adjacent forests has not been able to be attributed to mining effects on the water table. Trees that have died tend to be the oldest trees. Locations where the greatest amount of loss has occurred are also very heavily impacted by grazing which has removed much of the understory and created a noticeable compaction in the surface soils. Dense noxious weed growths can also be found in the forests where tree loss has been high. With so many factors influencing the forest survival, it is difficult to honestly say why any one tree dies. Furthermore, it needs to be recognized that moderate to extreme drought has influenced this entire watershed ever since the planting was done and throughout much of the recent sand mining in the stream. Even forests adjacent to mining that occurred twenty years ago (near Quincy Avenue) have shown considerable Coal Creek Wetlands and Wetland Mitigation DA Permit 198811488 August 2003 Page 19 of 23