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pasture and hayland vegetation offers considerably better quality forage for livestock. The <br />boggy conditions of the swales and the occurrence of large volumes of coarse and rank <br />standing dead vegetation probably precludes utilization of the type as well. Local landowners <br />expressed somewhat derisive remarks about the type, indicating that it constitutes lands that <br />could be put to greater use if the saturated conditions could be controlled. Reference to <br />Section 2.04.11, Fish and Wildlife Resources Information, can be made for further information <br />on the type. <br />6.5 Sagebrush - 1 Type (SG -1) The sagebrush -1 vegetation type represents remnants of <br />native rangeland that has not been converted to the more characteristic intensive agricultural <br />land uses in the area. This type occurs on mesa tops and shoulder slopes. The potential <br />natural vegetation probably included pinon and juniper along with sagebrush and understory <br />rangeland plants. Most of the pinon juniper has been removed and the remaining sagebrush <br />has been treated by mowing or herbicide spraying on gentler slopes. Additionally, cattle, <br />particularly during winter months, have heavily impacted this type, removing much of the <br />desirable understory range plants. These areas have not been converted to more intensive <br />land uses because of topographic restrictions affecting irrigation water application and the <br />occurrence of rock outcrops or shallow soils. The type usually occurs where slopes are too <br />steep to irrigate or where it was not feasible to bring water to the land via a ditch. This <br />sagebrush type was delineated based on the dominance of sagebrush within these areas. The <br />sage brush ranged in height from 1 ft. to 2.5 ft. with a average sagebrush height of 1.5 ft. <br />Sagebrush vigor and form are restricted by shallow depth to bedrock in this type. Slopes <br />ranged 3 to 60 percent. Some areas mapped as such may occasionally receive supplemental <br />moisture during the growing season from adjacent agricultural activities, however, a sagebrush <br />overstory with an associated understory of introduced and native species are present along <br />with the irrigated pasture invader species Kentucky bluegrass. <br />Total vegetation cover (first hit) for the type averaged 34 percent, with bare ground at 36 <br />percent, litter at 22 percent, and bedrock or rock fragments at 8 percent (Table 2.04.10-21). <br />Lichen and moss accounted for 1.1 percent of the mean cover. The shrub component <br />dominated with 16.2 percent cover followed closely by the perennial grass component at 7.5 <br />percent cover. Annual grasses at 6.8 percent cover, followed in importance. Consistent with <br />the type designation, sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) had the highest perennial species cover <br />at 13.9 percent (47 percent frequency), while the ubiquitous invader of sagebrush rangelands, <br />February 2015 (TR -66) 2.04.10-68 <br />