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EXHIBIT J Vegetation Information Vegetation information was gathered from the Soil Survey of Weld County, Colorado, Southern Part (United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, September 1980), and the Wetland Delineation Report prepared for the proposed site by ERO Resources Corp. The proposed site is a working ranch used primarily for livestock grazing with some areas cultivated for tree production and other crops. Native grasses including wheat grasses, switchgrass, blue grama, and buffalo grass tend to dominate soils found in upland aeeas. Trees best suited for these upland soils include Rocky Mountain juniper, eastern red cedar, ponderosa pine, Siberian elm, Russian-olive, and hackberry. The shrubs best suited are skunk brush sumac, lilac, Siberian peashrub, and American plum. Several delineated jurisdictional wetlands occur on the site and include areas in or along the South Platte River floodplain, Huett Ditch, Lupton Slough, and Burlington Ditch. Terraces bordering the South Platte River floodplain contain cottonwood forests with a grassy and mixed- forb understory chazacterized by wetland herbaceous and shrub species. Sandbazs on the west side of the river contain sandbaz willow and plantain in wetland areas. On the upper terrace on the east side of the river a lazge portion of wetland azea is dominated by prairie cordgrass, with curly dock, poison hemlock, showy milkweed, reed canary-grass, Baltic rush, and stands of sandbar willow also being present. Where standing water occurs along the Huett Ditch, cattails and other wetland species dominate. Along the channel, patches of sandbaz willow mixed with peachleaf willow, plains cottonwood, and Russian olive occur. Russian olive and plains cottonwood are scattered on the terrace above the channel where the herbaceous layer is dominated by saltgrass. Several wetland aeeas within the proposed project site, including the Lupton Slough, are dominated by broadleaf cattails. The cattail areas are bordered by other wetland species including threesquaze bulrush and Emory's sedge, which eventually give way to saltgrass, the dominant species surrounding the slough. Trees and shrubs such as plains cottonwood, Russian olive, peachleaf willow, and sandbaz willow also border the cattail areas within the slough. In the southwest comer of the proposed project site, wetlands occur at the base of the Brighton Ditch embankment. Vegetation in this area is dominated by sandbar willow, reed canary-grass, and Baltic rush. Wittenberg lakes DMG 7/2 Permit Page 11