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3.1.2 2014 Results <br />Ground cover for 2014 in the East and West Pit Phase III Bond Release areas (Table 1 and Chart 1) <br />consisted of 61.88% total plant cover, 0.60% rock, 26.58% litter, and bare soil exposure of 10.93%. <br />Perennial cover across the unit averaged 46.47% with annual and biennial cover averaging 15.42%. <br />Dominant taxa were western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii), thickspike wheatgrass, Japanese brome, <br />and basin wildrye with 8.79%, 7.81%, 6.19%, and 5.42% average cover, respectively. With regard to <br />diversity, the Phase III Bond Release Area exhibited 6 perennial grasses with between 3% and 50% <br />relative cover (Table 2). Total relative cover for perennial forbs excluding noxious weeds in the Phase III <br />area was 11.35% (Table 2). Plates 5 through 8 in Appendix A display typical revegetation in the Phase <br />III area for 2014. <br />Current annual herbaceous production across the Phase III area averaged 1,629.65 pounds per acre <br />and perennial vegetation contributed 1,520.61 pounds per acre in 2014 with perennial grasses as the <br />dominant category (Table 3 and Chart 3). Table 5 displays the results from 11 shrub patches (with <br />densities greater than 150 stems per acre) that occupy 51.64 acres of the 202.4 acres of Phase III <br />revegetation (25.51%). The it shrub patches exhibited an average of 1,476 woody plants per acre. <br />July 2015 Page 15 <br />