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• E.0 Railroad Coal Loaflout Reference Area Description <br />6.1 Railroad Coal Loadout Site Description <br />The railroad coal loadout site is located west of <br />Florence, Colorado on rolling terrain with an elevation <br />range of 5220-5260 feet. The site is composed of two <br />areas; an existing loadout located northeast of the <br />county road and a proposed loadout southwest of the <br />county road on the same A..T. & S.F. Railroad track. <br />The two areas are separated only by the county road. <br />There is no vegetation on the disturbed area of <br />the existing loadout site, however, there is a site <br />on the east side of the area with no evidence of recent <br />surface disturbance. This site was selected as a <br />reference area as discussed below. The•propoaed loadout <br />is am abandoned railroad siding. The vegetation on the <br />area is composed primarily of weedy species including <br />Kochia iranica and Salsola iberica. <br />The reference area for the coal loadout sites is <br />located on the east side of the existing loadout site. <br />The area was chosen because there was no evidence of <br />surface disturbance. The elevation, topography, slope <br />and vegetation is similar to the surrounding area. The <br />area will be protected from future disturbance. Sample <br />data is listed in Tables 6 and 7. <br />The vegetation type of the entire area is open grass- <br />land. The only trees present are a low population of <br />Junioerus monosverma found primarily on hillsides with <br />a north exposure. The only shrub present at the loadout <br />site which was not present at the mine site (Table 1) is <br />Artemisia fillifolia Torr.. silver wormwood sagebrush. <br />The shrub is nd genous to the region and is not classified <br />as a weed. The forb Mirabilis multiflora (Tort.) Gray. <br />wild four-o'clock is also ound at t e coal loadout <br />reference site but not at the mine permit site. It is also <br />indigenous to the area and not considered a weed. <br />6.2 Sample Adequacy <br />Sampling was done according to the methods described <br />in unit 2.0. A total of 18 samples was taken: The minimum <br />number of samples needed was 18 as described below. <br />Total average basal vegetation cover 19.35 percent <br />Standard deviation 5.0 <br />• Number of samples taken 18 <br />Minimum number of samples needed 18 <br />63 2-63 <br />