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<br />CHAPTERTHREE <br />Atfecte~d Environment , <br />wildrye, goldenweed, and scarlet globemallow (BLM 1994). Common shrubs include Douglas <br />rabbitbrush, flowery phlox, shadscale saltbush, gray horsebrush, and winterfat..4gain, plains <br />pricklypeaz is the only common forb (Tiedeman and Terwilliger 1978). <br />The Sagebrush Association also occupies north-facing slopes of the upper reachc:s of most of the <br />dry, ephemeral drainages to Piceance Creek where it occurs on Torriorthents-Rork outcrop <br />complex soils and fringed sagebrush, Indian ricegrass and wheatgrass aze the dominant species <br />(BLM 1982; Tiedeman and Terwilliger 1978). The Sagebrush Association is used as winter <br />range and cover for mule deer and elk (SCS 1982). The Sagebrush Association comprises 1,253 <br />acres (31 percent) of the Piceance Site. <br />Banen/Rock Outcrop Association <br />Barren lands aze those azeas such as barren rock, erosion pavements, rockoutcrops, cliffs, and <br />talus slopes that have little or no vegetation. At the Piceance Site, this communityi dominates the <br />south-facing slopes of the dry, ephemeral drainages to Piceance Creek, occurring on <br />Torriorthents-Rock outcrop complex soils. This community is of little benefit to wildlife; <br />however, the raze, endemic plant species that exist in the vicinity of the project occur in the <br />BarrenlRock Outcrop Association (Section 3.10). <br />The Barren/Rock Outcrop Association is chazacterized by a "bald" appeazance due to the absence <br />of trees and large shrubs. What vegetation there is dominated by grasses and cushion-type forbs. <br />Important grasses include bluebunch wheatgrass, streambank wheatgrass, needle-and-thread, <br />junegrass, Indian ricegrass, and blue grama. Cushion-type forbs include buckwheat, daisy, <br />phlox, globemallow, pussytoes, and nailwort, and associated low shrubs aze fringed sage and <br />rabbitbrush (BLM 1982). The BaaenlRock Outcrop Association comprises 166 acres (4 percent) <br />of the Piceance Site. <br />Greasewood Association <br />The Greasewood Association is limited primarily to low elevation drainage bottoms that have <br />deep, saline-alkaline, poorly drained alluvial soils. This association is intermixed with saltbush <br />and basin big sagebrush on lower saline-alkaline soils (BLM 1994). Either big sagebrush or <br />greasewood may dominate, depending on the soil type (Tiedeman and Terwilliger 1978). <br />Understory growth in dense stands is usually very sparse, but open stands support a mixture of <br />perennial shrubs and have a perennial and annual grass-forb understory (BLM 1994) <br />The Greasewood Association is usually an open to closed (80 percent or greater cover) stand of <br />greasewood and sagebrush. Understory grasses include western wheatgrass and ct~eatgrass <br />brome. The most common forbs are lambsquarter, threenerve fleabane, and mustard (Tiedeman <br />and Terwilliger 1978). The more open areas provide limited wildlife habitat. The Greasewood <br />Association comprises 153 acres (4 percent) of the Piceance Site. <br />Remnant Vegetation Association <br />Ponderosa pine is not common in the Piceance Basin, but the Piceance Site does contain a few <br />small stands. Current inventories identify ponderosa pine as being strongly tied to the <br />3-28 Vegetation <br /> <br />