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2011 Annual Status Report <br />Aggregate Industries: Greeley F Street Site January 17, 2012 <br />Introduction <br />This report presents the results of an evaluation of wetland areas at the Aggregate Industries F <br />Street Mine near Greeley, Colorado (Department of the Army Permit No. 199280589). Field <br />work and evaluation of wetland areas was conducted on July 26, 2011. <br />Project Location <br />The project site is located in part of the southwestern quarter of Section 35, Township 6 North, <br />and Range 66 West in Weld County, Colorado (Figure 1). Three wetland mitigation areas <br />(Areas A, B and C) are being developed on the site (Figure 2). <br />Evaluation of Wetlands <br />Wetland areas were qualitatively evaluated. Each area was walked and all observed plant <br />species were recorded. Plant taxonomic authority follows Weber and Wittmann (2001). <br />Observations of species dominance were noted. Species lists for each of the areas are grouped <br />by wetland indicator status (Reed 1988) in Table 1. In cases where the species was not <br />included in Reed (1988), the species was assigned an indicator category by Walsh ecologists, <br />based on an understanding of the species ecology in the region. <br />Field work was conducted approximately one year after the June 15, 2010 Poudre River flood <br />event, described in the 2010 annual monitoring report (Walsh 2010). Photographs of the F <br />Street Mine property taken during the flood event and two days later are also included in the <br />2010 monitoring report (Walsh 2010). <br />On -going impacts of the flood event to specific areas within the F Street Mine property are <br />included in this report. Photographs of each mitigation area were taken from fixed photo points <br />established for previous annual status reports. The 2011 photos are compared to the same <br />2007 photo points in the attachment to this report. Additional photographs were taken to further <br />document site conditions and compare conditions in 2009 to 2011. Photo point coordinates are <br />recorded in Table 2. <br />AREA A <br />The berm between the large East Side Pond and Area A was breached at its north end during <br />the flood event. A short, narrow channel now connects the two ponds. <br />Planted wetland vegetation in Area A is still inundated one year after the flood event and for the <br />most part appears to be dead. Some plant species that have established along shoreline <br />benches since the flood, these include plains cottonwood saplings (Populus deltoides), <br />smallflower gaura (Gaura parviflora), common evening - primrose (Oenothera villosa), and <br />horseweed (Conyza canadensis). In addition, stands of broad -leaf cattail (Typha latifolia) are <br />establishing along the shoreline and emerging from adjacent shallow water. <br />Dominant, non - emergent wetland species noted in portions of this area include peach - leaved <br />willow (Sallx amygdaloides), saltgrass (Distichlis stricta), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). <br />In total, twenty-nine (29) plant species were observed in the Area A wetland. This is 13 species <br />more than in 2010 or a 45 percent increase in overall number of species. Of these, 59 percent <br />have a wetland indicator status of Facultative or wetter. Cover by weedy species such as field <br />bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) and kochia (Bessie sieversiana) is approximately 10 to 15 <br />percent. No species listed on Colorado "List A" of noxious weeds occur on site (Colorado <br />Department of Agriculture 2010). <br />Numerous fish were noted jumping in the water of the Area A pond. Many juvenile toads were <br />seen throughout Area A. <br />1 <br />