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Wesi Elk Mine <br />As with vegetation cover, Quercus gambelii accounted for the majority of woody plants . <br />1 encountered. Quercus gambelii provided 123.3 stems/100 square meters (4988.4 stems/acre). <br />Symphoricarpos rotundifolius was the second most dense woody species with 72.6 stems/100 <br />square meters (2938.0 stems/acre).- Four remaining woody species accounted for the remaining <br />density as follows: Amelanchier alnifolia with 7.8 stems/100 square meters (315.7 stems/acre), <br />Prunus.virginiana with 5.7 stems/100 square meters (229.3 stems/acre), Rosa woodsii with 3.3 <br />stems/100 square meters.(132.2 stems/acre), and Juniperus osteosperina with 0.6 stems/100 squaze <br />meters and 24.3 stems acre. <br />Within the 1995 RPE area sampling three life-forms were represented; graminoids, forbs, and <br />woody azborescent species. The life-forms included four species of perennial grasses, one annual <br />grass, five perennial forbs, and seven woody shrubs. Of the seventeen species encountered during <br />cover sampling on the RPE area, fifteen were native (three grasses, five forbs, and seven woody <br />shrubs) and two were introduced (two grasses). As would be expected in a lazgely undisturbed old <br />age shrub dominated community, introduced species accounted for only 2.13 percent of the mean <br />vegetation cover on the RPE area in the 1995 sampling. The single introduced annual accounted for <br />0.13 percent mean cover and 0.10 percent relative cover. <br />Seasonality of RPE area species was predominantly cool season, with one perennial forb being <br />identified as warm season. Woody species were predominantly deciduous, with two species being <br />evergreen. Table 1 provides a listing and chazacterization of the plant species encountered during <br />cover sampling at the RPE area. <br />1 Five species of the seventeen encountered during cover sampling accounted for greater than three <br />percent relative cover. Four of the. five species were woody plants. These species included: <br />Quercus gambelii with 77.91 percent relative cover, Symphoricarpos rotundifolius with 7.17 <br />percent relative cover, Amelanchier alnifolia with 3.97 percent relative cover, Juniperus <br />osreosperma providing 3.78 percent relative cover, and Poa pratensis with 3.10 percent relative <br />cover. <br />Minor Vegetation Communities <br />Within the RPE area there is one wetland vegetation community located south of the State Highway <br />133 right-of-way and generally in the center of the RPE azea. This wetland area is located at the <br />lowest elevation within the RPE azea (approximately 6,080 ft. above MSL). Area] extent of this <br />area is approximately 0.88 acres. The wetland that will be impacted is located in an essentially <br />"closed basin" bounded by steep slopes to the south and an elevated section of State Highway 133. <br />This wetland is a palustrine emergent wetland. It appeazs that the hydrology of the azea has resulted <br />from- the presence of the highway embankment, which effectively isolates the wetland from the <br />river. That is, the embankment acts as a dam that prevents surface outflow from the wetland. The <br />embankment itself is 40 to 50 feet high. The result of the current conditions is that the wetland is <br />essentially an anthropogenic (i ?., human caused) wetland. <br />The source of water that supports the wetland vegetation community in this area is postulated to be <br />surface. water runoff from the RPE area slope and toeslope, as well as surface runoff from the <br />adjacent roadway. Given the presence of outcropping bedrock springs above the Ne^.h Fork of the <br />1 Gunnison River at approximately this elevation, the wetland community may be additionally <br />2.04-152 ReviseQApn! 2004 PR/0 <br />