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Interactions between the Pueblo West Pit and Arkansas River Fisheries Habitat Restoration Project Introduction: With the Arkansas River Fisheries Habitat Restoration Project about to begin it became apparent that a small portion of the project was to be implemented on land contained in the Reclamation Permit for the Pueblo West Pit (Permit M-1977-573). This permit has been in effect since about 1977 and many acres have been mined. The operation is now closed and all the land affected is being reclaimed with significant portions of the permitted land already released. In consideration of the overlap between the permit and this significant river rehabilitation project, the project plans and the permit were examined in detail. The purpose of this examination was to identify various pathways that might be taken to allow the river project to proceed with minimal influence by the Reclamation Permit requirements. It became clear that much of the project will occur in a narrow strip along the river banks and most of that strip was never affected in the course of mining the permit area. However, other portions of the project will encroach into affected land. This report gathers together the information required to suggest resolutions to this overlap. Permit Requirements: The Reclamation Permit requires the development of a series of lakes and/or sealed reservoirs surrounded by topsoiled land where primarily grasses are to be established. Final land uses are primarily for wildlife habitat and, in one area, a sealed reservoir basin. In many areas, particularly the older portions of the permits, full reclamation has been achieved and the permitted land released from bond. Those areas do not present any difficulties with regard to a project/permit overlap. Within the newer areas of the permit, the lakes (except the wash water source lake) have all been released from bond, but the fringe areas of the lakes where grass is to be established have not been completed. Attempts at establishing grasses on a major part of the unreleased land have not met with much success except in local, highly favorable sites. The combination of severe drought, saline and somewhat sodic soils, and intense annual weed growth have all conspired to limit success. Another attempt at seeding was implemented in December 2003 using a new seed mixture of salt and sodium tolerant species and hopefully better moisture conditions than have been seen in the past five years. Dryland revegetation is well recognized as being difficult in the Pueblo area due to a generally unfavorable precipitation pattern and frequent long dry periods. In addition many of the soils along the river corridor are recognized to be at least moderately saline and sometimes severely so. Sodium can also be a problem, although that is usually not quite as severe as the salt content. Soil tests of the reclamation soils have shown moderate to high saline conditions and local sodium content that would be limiting to growth of intolerant species. In addition to these problems, the long history of land use in these river corridor lands has allowed a large and tenacious population of annual weeds to vigorously establish themselves on disturbed land where moisture is not severely limiting. Most of these weeds are the tumbleweeds (Kochia and Salsola) that tend to grow at very high densities in moderate to high fertility soils. They can frequently dominate sites for years if the soil nitrogen levels are high. Control of these Pueblo West Pit and River Restoration Project Investigation Report