Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Figure 52. View of Laguna Polvadera (near northern end) facing southwest
Grasses observed at the site during the survey include blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Indian
ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides), alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides), western wheatgrass
(Pascopyrum smithii), purple threeawn (Aristida purpurea), and long-leaf squirreltail (Elymus
elemoides). Other plant species recorded onsite include fourwing saltbush (Atriplex canescens),
broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), Bigelow sagebrush (Artemisia bigelovii), plains
prickly pear (Opuntia polyacantha), Adonis blazingstar (Mentzelia multiflora), rubber rabbitbrush
(Ericameria nauseosa), fetid goosefoot (Chenopodium graveolens), tree cholla (Cylindropuntia
imbricata), fineleaf hymenopappus (Hymenopappus filifolius), winterfat (Krascheninnikovia
lanata), and pale desert-thorn (Lycium pallidum) (McClain and Thompson, 2012).
One-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) and twoneedle piñon (Pinus edulis) are sparsely
scattered across the site. Two common invasive species, prickly Russian thistle (Salsola tragus,
aka tumbleweed) and five-stamen tamarisk (Tamarix chinensis), are present at the site.
The vegetation surveyed within the proposed pipeline route can be classified into four vegetation
communities as described in the USGS Southwest Gap Analysis Project (USGS 2011). These
classifications are illustrated in figure 53. For the purposes of table 27, which shows the acreages
of vegetation communities in the main mine area and pipeline route, the two different vegetation
classification systems used were collapsed into one based on Bailey (2008).
The vegetation surveys of the Roca Honda Mine location within the 3-section permit area (9, 10,
16) classified five broad vegetation types that the majority of the project area fell into as first
described by Robert Bailey in 1978 (Bailey, 2008). A different classification system developed by
the USGS (2011), called the “USGS Southwest Gap Analysis Project,” was used to characterize
vegetation along the proposed pipeline route, but the classifications of the two sytems are similar
enough to be relatively interchangeable. The vegetation classifications that are not found in both
202 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest