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• Banks and Gesso, LLC <br />EXHIBIT J -VEGETATION INFORMATION <br />The proposed 124th Estates Sand and Gravel Mine is an historic mine site that is <br />now a large, circular, open pit, bordered by a reclaimed upland area <br />approximately 25 to 50 feet in width. Standing water is present in over half of the <br />pit area. Vegetation on the upland area and side slopes consists of smooth <br />brome, crested wheatgrass, and cheatgrass. Within the open pit are a dozen, <br />small to medium, plains cottonwoods saplings and trees, curly dock, and a cattail <br />fringe along the waters edge. Herbaceous vegetation within the pit is sparse and <br />weedy. <br />The cattail fringe wetland, which skirts the waters within the open pit, are <br />considered isolated wetlands, not within the regulatory jurisdiction of the Army <br />Corps of Engineers, as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Solid Waste <br />Agency of Northern Cook Countv v. U.S. Armv Corps of Engineers, No. 99-1178 <br />(January 9, 2001). A letter of concurrence from the Denver Regulatory Office of <br />the Corps of Engineers is presented as Appendix C of these application materials <br />and states that no permit or authorization by the Corps of Engineers is required <br />for work at this site. <br />A preliminary biological investigation of the 124th Estates site in May 2001 noted <br />that highly disturbed areas, like this historic mine site, where wetlands have <br />developed, can be habitat for the Ute Ladies'-tresses Orchid. As a result, a <br />survey for the Orchid will be conducted between July 20 and August 31, 2001; <br />and no disturbance will occur at the site until the survey is completed, no <br />individuals are found, and a concurrence letter is received from the U.S. Fish and <br />Wildlife Service. <br />A search of the Biological and Conservation Database of the Colorado Natural <br />Heritage Program (CNHP) did not highlight the occurrence of significant natural <br />communities or rare, threatened, or endangered plants within the mine site and <br />124 Estates -Regular 112 Application 01029.WD <br />124'" Estates Partners 20 August 2001 <br />