Vegetation Associations/Land Uses Sample Clauses

Vegetation Associations/Land Uses. Much of the proposed mitigation bank has been planted in slash pine; slash pine plantation, of various ages from about 3 years to 25 years, comprises approximately 87% of the site. In wetter areas, such as in cypress flats/swamps and freshwater marshes, many of the slash pines have died. Some of the older plantings have recently been thinned every third row. Most of the site was bedded during planting, and bed and furrow depths range from about 3 to 12 inches, typically 3 to 8 inches deep. Some of the types of communities found on the site vary based on slight differences in topography. Where wetlands have been furrowed, distinctly different plant communities usually exist on the tops of the beds vs. in the furrows. The understory/ground cover strata varies from open herbaceous to very dense thickets of mesic or hydric shrubs. Due to fire suppression, shrub percent cover is much higher than would naturally occur in the historical natural communities. There has been no infrastructure constructed on the site other than logging roads and ditches to support silviculture. Other vegetative communities include pine flatwoods, cypress swamp, mixed forested wetland, wet prairie, freshwater xxxxx and saltwater xxxxx (Table A-2 and Exhibit A-1-5). This exhibit also shows communities within the surrounding conservation area, that are not included in acreage calculations in Table A-2.