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percent relative cover, and Agropyron smithii provided 1.60 percent mean total cover and <br />• 3.31 percent relative cover. <br />Vegetative litter (prior yeazs growth, dead wood, and other biologic organic material) <br />comprised 38.00 percent ground cover overall within the 1998 reseeded or interseeded areas. <br />Bare soil comprised 15.60 percent of the ground cover. No rock or cryptogams were <br />encountered during the cover sampling in the 1998 reseeded or interseeded azeas. <br />3.1.4.2 Herbaceous Production <br />Total herbaceous production within the 1998 reseeded or interseeded areas this yeaz was the <br />highest of all azeas sampled with 172.52 g/m2 (1538 lb/ac). Annual forts were the largest <br />contributor to herbaceous production in this azea with 95.55 g/mz (8521b/ac) or 55.4 percent <br />of total herbaceous production. Perennial grasses contributed 52.77 g/m2 (470 ]b/ac) to <br />herbaceous production in this area, comprising 30.6 percent of total herbaceous production. <br />Perennial forts provided 22.43 g/m2 (200 lb/ac) or 13.0 percent of total herbaceous <br />production. Annua! grasses provided 1.77 g/m2 (161b/ac), which was 1.0 percent of the total <br />mean herbaceous production. Biennial forts did not contribute to herbaceous production. <br />3.1.4.3 Species Composition <br />Cover sampling identified two lifeforms and seventeen species within the 1998 reseeded or <br />interseeded areas. The lifeforms included ten species of perennial grass, one annual grass, one <br />• perennial, and five annual forts. Of the species encountered on the 1998 reseeded or <br />interseeded azeas, thirteen were native and four were introduced. Perennial species <br />outnumbered annual species by eleven to six. Both warm and cool season species contributed <br />to the seasonality of the 1998 reseeded or interseeded azeas. Warm and cool season <br />graminoids contributed equally with five species each. Cool season forts prevailed by four to <br />two. <br />The 1998 reseeded or interseeded areas had five species contributing greater than three <br />percent relative cover this year. The species contributing greater than three percent relative <br />cover included two perennial grasses, one annual grass, and two annual forts. These species <br />included Kochia scoparia (57.72%), Bromus tectorum (12.87%), Calamovilfa longifolia <br />(11.03%), Helianthus anrruus (4.78%), and Agropyron smithii (3.31%). <br />3.1.5 1999 RECLAMATION AREAS <br />The 1999 reclamation azeas encompass a total of approximately 18 acres of reclamation in <br />two distinct azeas within the Keenesburg Mine permit azea. The areas are found on the south <br />and east sides of the mine; Area 5, a 2.6 acre parcel south of the topsand piles, and Area 9, <br />15.3 acres of the former A Pit. Area 5 is neazly flat with a gentle slope (<1°) to the north and <br />east. Area 9 slopes slightly (4%) to the north. Reclamation and coincident revegetation within <br />this azea took place in 1999. Replaced soils were sandy in texture. Specific sampling <br />information for the 1999 reclamation areas is contained in Tables 10 and 11. <br />• <br />Coors Energy Company Page 71 <br />2004 Revegetation Monitoring Report <br />