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<br />VEGETATION INFORMATION <br />The information herein provided was supplied by ALBERT <br />W. YOXALL, Acting District Conservationist of the Soil <br />Conservation Service of the United States Department of <br />Agriculture. <br />The affected area has been used as pasture and rangeland <br />in the past. It is too stoney and unstable to be of much <br />value for cropland. <br />Present vegetation consists of grasses, trees and <br />forbs. The dominant grass is inland salt grass (Distichlis <br />striceta) due to a high saline water table. Native forbs <br />are cattails, sedger, rushes and other water-tolerant <br />species. Native trees are cottonwood and willows. Other <br />grasses are Kentucky Bluegrass, sand dropseed, switchgrass <br />and prairie cordgrass. <br />The carrying capacity for cattle is not great since the <br />existing species of grass are not particularly palatable. <br />Under the trees there is no grass understorey which renders <br />the woodland of no value for grazing. The existing grass <br />cover can produce 1500-3000 pounds per acre; but, as noted, <br />these ponds are poor forage for the most part. <br />The major impact on vegetation resulting from gravel <br />extraction will result from destruction of the existing <br />vegetation cover as mining proceeds. These impacts will be <br />mitigated by the process of reclamation of the land <br />surface and revegetation of nature areas with native species <br />and revegetation of recreation areas with turf forming species <br />and plantings of trees and shrubs. <br />EXHIBIT "J" <br />