Laserfiche WebLink
12 <br />Deep well drained soils with moderate to high available water capacities overlie <br />• the fans and associated landforms of the project area. Alluvium and landslide <br />materials from mixed rock sources are the dominant parent materials. Slopes <br />range from nearly level to 40 percent with lesser slopes predomination. Soil <br />textures range from loamy to stony loams for surface soils and from clays to <br />extremely cobbly loamy sands for subsurface soil horizons. The mass movement <br />potential is rated as low to medium. <br />Rock outcrops occur across the project area and are expressed as bare rock <br />exposures of canyon walls, escarpments, and very steep upland side slopes. <br />Little in the way of soil is included in these map units. <br />Vegetation <br />The following is obtained from the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Iron Point <br />Exploration License, Iron Point Coal Lease Tract, Elk Creek Coal Lease Tract, Delta and <br />Gunnison Counties, Colorado, February 2000, formulated by the USDA-Forest Service, <br />USDI-Bureau of Land Management and USDI-Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & <br />Enforcement. <br />The Oak Vegetation community is essentially ubiquitous across the project are <br />occurring on ridge slopes, along ephemeral drainages, and over level to <br />moderately rolling mountain meadows. Near pure stands of Gamble oak <br />. (Quercus gambelir~ dominate drier ridge slopes. Where the community occurs in <br />larger meadow and along drainages, it is more of a mixed shrub community <br />composed of a wide variety of shrub species. This is a reflection of more mesic <br />site conditions and wetter soil moisture regimes. The dominant shrub species is <br />Gambel oak. Other shrubs which can be co- or sub-dominant depending upon <br />growing conditions inclue snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus or S. <br />rotundifolis) and serviceberry (Amelanchieralnifolia). Herbaceous species such <br />as lupine (Lupinus argenteus), white-flowered peavine (Lathyrus leucanthus), <br />and various upland sedge (Carex) species are common in the understory <br />(Johnson, 1997). Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) is also a common community <br />component while small, sub-dominant aspen (Populus tremuloides), stands may <br />become established in wetter areas where this community borders the aspen <br />community. <br />Occurring across the project area over a variety of elevations and aspects is the <br />Aspen Vegetation Type. This type inhabits less steep slopes overall than the <br />other tree-dominated vegetation types on site, though its presence on somewhat <br />steeper slopes under the proper soil conditions is not uncommon. It intergrades <br />with most of the other vegetation types on site, excepting the Pinyon/Juniper, and <br />characteristically has a more open, highly productive understory. The dominant <br />tree species is aspen. Common understory species include Woods rose (Rosa <br />woodsi~), mountain brome (Bromus marginatus), elk sedge (Carex geyen),white- <br />flowered peavine, Fendler meadow-rue (Thalictrum fenlen), and American vetch <br />(Vicia americana) (Johnston, 1997). Wetter expressions of this type, in <br />• depressions or adjacent to seeps and springs, often form transition wetland <br />vegetation communities. <br />