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Tabetha Lynch <br />Page 2 <br />July 11, 2016 <br />Each portion of the bond release block had an equal chance of being sampled. Plant cover was <br />measured along a minimum of twenty 50 meter transects. Ten locations along each transect were <br />sampled using a metal 10 -point frame resulting in 100 data point collected per transect. Plant <br />cover data was used to measure and evaluate species diversity. To measure production, a <br />minimum of thirty transects were sampled. Three randomly located one quarter meter clip plots <br />were sampled along each transect. The plots were clipped by life forms of perennial grasses and <br />perennial forbs. Annuals, biennials, noxious weeds and shrub production were not clipped. <br />Following clipping, the harvested plant material was oven dried and weighed to determine <br />average production for the bond release blocks. Modified belt transects were conducted along the <br />same thirty transects used to measure production to determine woody plant density for the range <br />site AB block. Also, two shrub clumps were located within the range site A/B bond release <br />block. Each shrub clump contains 250 to 300 shrub pads. Half of each of the shrub pads was <br />counted to quantify that at least 50% of the pads contained 10 living woody plant stems per pad. <br />For range site A, the required herbaceous cover standard is 33% and 19% litter cover for a total <br />52% effective cover ("Allowable Cover"). For range site B, the required herbaceous cover <br />standard is 29% and 23% litter cover for a total effective cover of 52%. For range site C, the <br />required herbaceous cover standard is 25% and 22.0% litter cover for a total effective cover of <br />47%. These standards for each of the range sites are listed on Table 4.4-1 of the permit. For this <br />release, since the range site AB bond release block consists of range site A and B types, the <br />revegetation standard for range site A was used to evaluate revegetation success since it has the <br />most conservative standard. <br />According to the revegetation monitoring reports, in 2014, the range site A/B block had a total <br />allowable cover average of 80.45% and a perennial plant cover average of 56.9%. For the 2014 <br />data, perennial grasses Great Basin Wildrye (Elymus cinereus), Western Wheatgrass (Agropyron <br />smithii), Kentucky Bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and Sheep Fescue (Festuca ovina) dominated the <br />seeded vegetation on the reclaimed site. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and Western Yarrow <br />(Achillea millefolium) were the most commonly encountered perennial forbs. The 2015 report <br />indicated the total allowable cover averaged 79.43% and perennial plant cover averaged 59.35%. <br />For the 2015 data, perennial grasses Intermediate Wheatgrass (Agropyron intermedium), Great <br />Basin Wildrye, Kentucky Bluegrass, Western Wheatgrass, and Sheep Fescue dominated the <br />seeded vegetation on the reclaimed site. Alfalfa and Western Yarrow were the most commonly <br />encountered perennial forbs. <br />According to the revegetation monitoring reports, in 2014, the range site C block had a total <br />allowable cover average of 77.38% and a perennial plant cover average of 50.68%. For the 2014 <br />data, perennial grasses Intermediate Wheatgrass, Great Basin Wildrye, Western Wheatgrass, <br />Smooth Brome (Bromus intermis) and Sheep Fescue dominated the seeded vegetation on the <br />