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A few native trees, including approximately six plains cottonwoods and five peachleaf willows, occur at the margins of the pasture. Wetland The northern end of the degraded pasture immediately east of U.S. 85 supports a small wetland Tess than 1 acre in size. The wetland appears to be related to impediment of surface and shallow subsurface flows in the low-lying area, supplemented by ditch seepage. Although small, the wetland is complex, with areas dominated by coyote willow in the southem part and by cattails and other herbaceous species in the northern part. A small number of peachleaf willow trees punctuate the wetland area. Associated wetland species include softstem bulrush and Olney bulrush along the cattail margins, grading through a zone of Baltic rush, Nebraska sedge, and Emory sedge to adjacent pasture grasses. Prominent (orbs in the outer margins of the wetland include showy milkweed, scarlet milkweed, curly dock, and lady's-thumb. Weedy species such as Canada thistle and wild teasel are also present, representing about 5 percent of the community. Foliar cover in the wetland is more than 100 percent due to dense growth and overlapping canopies. Estimates of cover by lifeform across the wetland as a whole are as follows: trees (peachleaf willow) - 5 percent, up to 15 feet high; shrubs (coyote willow) - 40 percent, up to 7 feet high; wetland graminoids (including cattail, bulrush, rushes, and sedges) - 40 percent, typically 1.5 to 4.5 feet high; and wetland forts -15 percent, mostly 1 to 3 feet high. Impacts to this wetland may require authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Dry Terrace Slope Separating the croplands from a degraded pasture and wetland to the west is a steep terrace slope extends north-south through the northwestern part of the site, In the southem part, the terrace slope is west of U.S. 85 and not onsite. The slope itself is not farmed but shows the effects of prior grazing and perhaps other ground-disturbing activities. Vegetation is dominated by non-native pasture grasses (e.g., smooth brome) with some native grasses such as blue grams, sand dropseed, thickspike wheatgrass, and purple three- awn and a variety of forts. The latter include native species such as hairy golden-aster and curlycup gumweed as well as various weedy non-natives. Farm Trees and Landscape Trees and Shrubs Trees and shrubs are not a prevalent part of the site vegetation. Indeed, the only "naturally occurring" trees are perhaps a dozen plains cottonwoods and half that many peachleaf willows scattered throughout the site, mostly on field margins or in the degraded pasture and wetland areas described above. However, introduced (planted) trees and ornamental shrubs are a conspicuous part of the landscape at existing rural residences and an old school house, mostly on the eastern edge of the site adjoining County Road 27. Species observed during the survey in July 2004 included blue spruce, Rocky Mountain juniper (red cedar), plains cottonwood, European white poplar, Siberian elm, hackberry, green ash, and walnut. Russian-olives are also present in these settings, as are lilac, spires, and other ornamental shrubs and flowering fruit trees. The total number of planted trees on the site margins was not counted precisely but is estimated at fewer than fifty. SW TKO Joint Venture, LLC. -Adams Sand and Gravel Mine -112 Reclamation Permit Amendment Page 29