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1 <br />~~ <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />1 <br />1 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />Exhibit J - Vegetation Information <br />A site-specific vegetation inventory and evaluation was conducted for <br />the purposes of this application. The area to be mined exists on a loamy <br />plains and gravel breaks range sites with gentle sloping (0 to 4 percent) <br />surface topography. <br />The vegetetion ground cover ranges from scattered to sparse, as <br />defined by Rule 1.1 (29) (<25 to 50 percent), with an estimated density <br />averaging about 25 percent. The species composition of the site is <br />indicative of rangeland which has been historically been impacted by <br />grazing but has not yet fully recovered to its climax potential. Short <br />grasses occupy the major portion of the plant community. In the potential <br />(climax) native plant community, it is estimated that grasses would compose <br />80 to 85 percent of the total vegetation, with the remainder being forbs, <br />shrubs and half-shrubs. <br />The climax ecosystem is loamy plains grassland. In an undisturbed <br />setting potential vegetation would consist of sideoats grama, blue grama, <br />western wheatgrass, little bluestem, alkali sacaton, needle-and-thread, <br />Indian ricegrass, and sand dropseed as the predominant grasses. Yucca, <br />cactus and winterfat are common forbs. The potential native plant <br />community, based on associations with soil types (Exhibit I) and range <br />sites, is given as follows: <br />Soil Type Range Site <br />Kim Loamy Plains <br />Species <br />Blue Grama <br />Western Wheatgrass <br />Galleta <br />Needle-and-thread <br />Relative Percentage <br />in Plant Community <br />58 <br />10 <br />10 <br />5 <br /> <br />