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<br />Vegetation <br /> <br />Eight plant communities have been delineated on areas within portions of <br />the existing permit area affected by surface operations and facilities. <br />Similar plant communities exist on the lease application area. Vegetation <br />communities within the permit area consist of juniper woodland, juniper <br />woodland-big sagebrush, big sagebrush, big sagebrush-wheatgrass, Colorado <br />wildrye, cheatgrass-annual forb, and big sagebrush-greasewood. These com- <br />munities comprise a mosaic of plant dominants controlled by soil type and <br />topography. Further influence on vegetation composition and distribution <br />was exerted by past and present land uses. <br />That portion of Red Wash, potentially affected by lease development, pre- <br />sently supports about 33 acres of vegetated palustrine wetland and 2 acres <br />of barren unconsolidated streambed. These poorly developed wetlands are <br />confined to lower channel terraces within Red Wash's incised floodplain. <br />Vegetation is dominated by a profuse growth of annual forbs, including <br />cocklebur, kochia, and lamb`s quarter (22 acres, 67 percent of total). <br />Approximately 9 acres (27 percent) is a scrub-shrub type typified by a big <br />sagebrush-rubber rabbitbrush canopy with dense understories of cheatgrass, <br />slender wheatgrass, and basin wildrye. Tamarisk and cottonwood occur <br />sparingly. Tamarisk occupies less than 0.1 acre, distributed in small <br />scattered stands of channel and oxbow margins. Two stunted cottonwood <br />trees (15-20 feet high) exist along the channel margin. The remaining 2 <br />acres (6 percent) is made up of persistent perennial grasses and forbs, <br />including slender wheatgrass, basin wildrye, curly dock, inland saltgrass, <br />and sedge (trace). <br />. Since Red Wash normally flows only in response to snowmelt or rainfall, it <br />is evident that these wetlands are maintained strictly by saturated <br />alluvium and intermittent flooding of lower channel terraces. The poten- <br />tial for vegetation development is apparently limited in Red Wash because <br />of the intermittent nature of the drainage and the ongoing processes of <br />erosion and deposition prompted by regular episodes of heavy flows and <br />flooding. <br />Range-Domestic Livestock Use <br />The principle use of the application area is for spring sheep use. The <br />area Liea within the Red Wash allotment. <br />Wildlife <br />A comprehensive list of animals known to inhabit the LMU area has been <br />compiled by Western Fuels-Utah as part of their mine plan application <br />(Yolume 3). This information is also tabulated in the BLM's WRRA Unit <br />Resource Analysis--Rangely Planning Unit. Both documents are available at <br />the White River Resource Area office, Meeker, Colorado. <br />As many as 120 birds, 60 mammals, 10 reptiles, and 2 amphibians make use <br />of habitats available on the LMU and lease application area. Only those <br /> <br />11 <br />.~-- - c <br />