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CHAPTERFOUR Environmental Consequences project. Additionally, the removal of woodland or shrub communities along the pipeline ROW would be considered long term for the 50-foot-wide corridor that would be maintained in an herbaceous state for the life of the project. The success or failure of revegetation would affect other resources including soils, surface water, wildlife, visual resources and live:.tock grazing. The relative significance of impacts to different vegetation communities depend<. on their social and ecological sensitivity and importance: Pinyon juniper woodlands in the study azeas provide severe winter range habitat for big game, especially mule deer. Depending on the level of disturbance, it would take about 30 to 50 years before trees in revegetated azeas would be mature enough to provide adequate thermal cover for big game. It would take up to 150 yeazs to replace a mature woodland and up to 300 yeazs to re[um to the potential natural community. Sagebrush, greasewood, and mountain shrub communities are generally considered less sensitive to disturbance because of their shorter recovery time, usually 5 to 10 years, with a return to the potential natural community in about 20 years. However, impacts to these communities in severe winter range could adversely affect big game forage acid cover habitat for the short- to mid-term and reduce the carrying capacity of critical habitat during the period required to re-establish vegetation. • Riparian and wetland areas are considered sensitive because of their importance for wildlife habitat, biotic diversity, and their role in water quality protection. Wetlands are discussed in more detail in Section 4.9. • The loss or disturbance of the small ponderosa pine RVA would be considered significant because this is an uncommon community in the Piceance Basin, and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to re-establish this community or to mitigate impacts. • The loss or disturbance of identified vulnerable or imperiled plant communities along the proposed pipeline corridor would be considered a significant impact. • Invasion of noxious weeds that impairs vegetation efforts or affects lands outside the Project Area would be a significant impact. • Failure to revegetate large areas would be a significant impact. A Soil Conservation, Erosion and Sediment Control, Reclamation, and Revegetatr'on Plan (The Plan) prepared for the Yankee Gulch Project describes measures American Soda would take to minimize impacts associated with project development and procedures to reclaim areas of disturbance (Water and Earth Technologies, Inc. and Habitat Management, Inc. 1598). Measures specific to vegetation and reclamation include the following. • Design mining operations and construct facilities to minimize disturbance and retain low- growing herbaceous vegetation over more than 50 percent of the mining panels and the product pipeline ROW. • Implement standard erosion control measures, as needed. Carry out interim revegetation with a BLM-approved seed mixture on areas not needed for subsequent development. 4-38 Vegetation