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<br />Daub & Associates, Inc. Page 3-66 2015 NS Mine Plan Modification <br />1/5/2016 Section 3 General Site Conditions <br />Results of the 1984 vegetation study indicate higher cover estimates than those <br />obtained in the studies by LGL (1982) and CDM (1983). The LGL and CDM studies <br />estimated shrub and herbaceous cover to be 28.4 and 36 percent in the Big <br />Sagebrush type and 5.7 and 5.5 percent for the Pinyon-Juniper type, respectively. <br />This apparent discrepancy may be due to an artifact created by divergent sampling <br />methodologies, or increased precipitation during the last several years. <br />Productivity Estimates <br />The productivity sampling data for browse species are summarized in Table 3-19. <br />Within the Big Sagebrush Shrubland vegetation type, Big Sagebrush was estimated <br />to have an average production rate of 187.4 kg/ha. This is comparable to other data <br />collected within the study area which estimated between 54 to 189 kg/ha (LGL, <br />1981) and 160 kg/ha (CDM, 1983) in the big sagebrush type. Total production in the <br />Pinyon-Juniper Woodland type was estimated at 70 kg/ha with rubber rabbit-brush, <br />Antelope bitterbrush and big sagebrush being the shrub species sampled in this type <br />(Table 3-12). This estimate is much higher than the previous studies by LGL (1981) <br />and CDM (1983). LGL reported productivity estimates in the Pinyon-Juniper <br />Woodland between 16 to 30 kg/ha, while CDM estimated 10 kg/ha. These apparent <br />discrepancies are probably due to the higher precipitation the area has received in <br />the last year. <br />Annual productivity (grasses and forbs) data were collected by LGL (1981) and <br />reported by CDM (1983). LGL estimated productivity for the Sagebrush type <br />grasses between 125 to 332 kg/ha, while CDM (1983) reported annual production, <br />including forbs, at 283 kg/ha. Within the Pinyon-Juniper vegetation type, estimates <br />by LGL ranged from 5 to 43 kg/ha for annual grass productivity and COM reported <br />annual herbaceous productivity. <br />Density Estimates <br />Table 3-19 summarizes the density data obtained for each of the two vegetation <br />types for the important browse species. In the Big Sagebrush Shrubland type, only <br />one species, big sagebrush, was sampled which had an average shrub density of