_INSPECTION - C1981041 (44) - Laserfiche WebLink

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north end of the corridor. This corridor is designated Industrial/Commercial PMLU, as it closely parallels the Union Pacific maintenance road along the east side of the railroad tracks. Along most of the length of the corridor, there is an effective vegetation cover provided by a dense stand of fourwing saltbush, along with a significant component of greasewood and a lesser component of various other shrubs. As typical of lowland shrub stands in the general area, the shrub understory is dominated by cheatgrass and other annual grasses. In one location, approximately midway along the corridor, the revegetated area has been disturbed by railroad maintenance personnel using the location as a vehicle pullout/turn- around area. Due to the extent of vegetative cover and relatively flat terrain with only a few minor slopes of limited length, there is no erosion evident along the corridor. • Within a swath immediately to the east of the reclaimed conveyor strip, extending from the south end along much of the corridor, the operator has in the past used a combination of herbicide and mechanical controls ("cut stump method")for control of tamarisk. The intent of the tamarisk control was primarily to suppress the existing stand adjacent to the reclaimed area and minimize invasion into the reclamation. Although there is re-growth of tamarisk in the treated area, to date there has been very little encroachment into the reclamation. The operator has also chemically treated stands of Russian knapweed and whitetop (both noxious species)along and adjacent to the reclaimed corridor, and continues to spray for these species as necessary. North Portal Substation Area • First year establishment of seeded vegetation at the reclaimed North Portal substation site looks very good over most of the area, with generally excellent initial establishment of various seeded shrubs and cool season grasses. Surface soils over most of the site have a significant gravel component, and vegetation establishment is markedly better in the gravelly soils as compared to fine textured soils without the gravel component at the north end of the site. On the fine textured soils, there is a high component of bare ground, with poor initial establishment of seeded vegetation. CRDA-1 Upper Benches • The upper benches of CRDA-1 were seeded in April 2002 (with the exception of a narrow swath along the south end and southwest corner of the pile that has been left open for future disposal of coaly material from UTL facility clean-up). A diverse stand of seeded vegetation has developed, including significant representation of multiple species of shrubs, half-shrubs, forbs, and both cool and warm season grasses. A couple observations of vegetative conditions were made during the inspection, which warrant notice, as they could have implications with regard to long term trends in species composition and ultimate demonstrations of revegetation success. The first observation is that the annual grass component, primarily cheatgrass, appears to have become more prominent and widespread in recent years, particularly on the southern and southeast bench slopes, and portions of the top of the pile. The second observation is that in numerous locations, a high percentage of the fourwing saltbush shrubs appear to exhibit low vigor, with a high percentage of dead or leafless branches. • Evidence of heavy rabbit grazing on the pile that has been noted in recent years, particularly concentrated on seeded galleta grass, was not observed. It is likely that the local cottontail population is significantly lower than in the recent past. 4