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REFERENCE AREA VEGETATION SAMPLING <br />IRRIGATED PASTURE REFERENCE AREA <br />The Irrigated Pasture Reference Area sampled in connection with the NHN mine is the approved <br />reference area for the Irrigated Pasture vegetation type for the NI -12 Mine Permit, and is located <br />immediately to the southeast of the New Horizon Mine office. This site was sampled in <br />expectation that the existing vegetation characteristics of this site would be similar to those <br />associated with the Irrigated Pasture predisturbance areas associated with the NHN permit area. <br />Plant Cover <br />The results obtained from the sampling of the 15 plant cover transects on the Irrigated Pasture <br />Reference Area are presented in Table 2.04.10-21. Total plant cover on this site averaged 76.60 <br />percent and litter averaged 17.33 percent (Table 2.04.10-21). <br />Five plant life forms were encountered in the cover sampling of this site. Native perennial <br />grasses and grasslikes were the dominant plant life form encountered on this site, contributing <br />61.80 percent of the total plant cover and 80.69 percent of the total relative cover found on this <br />site. Perennial forbs were the second most dominant plant life form, contributing 7.47 percent of <br />the total plant cover and 9.74 percent of the total relative cover found on this site. Noxious <br />Weeds contributed 5.07 percent of the total plant cover and 6.61 percent of the total relative <br />cover found on this site. Annuals and biennials contributed 2.27 percent of the total plant cover <br />and 2.96 percent of the total relative cover found on this area. Only one woody plant the tree, <br />Russian Olive, a state listed noxious weed was found growing on this site. <br />Tall Fescue, a planted introduced pasture grass was the most dominant plant species <br />encountered, contributing 25.33 percent of the total relative plant cover found on this site. The <br />other dominant plants encountered were: Kentucky Bluegrass, Baltic Rush, Meadow Fescue and <br />Spreading Bentgrass contributed 14.97, 14.19, 10.62 and 6.88 percent, respectively, of the total <br />relative cover on this area. <br />The locations of the 15 cover transects sampled in the Irrigated Pasture Reference Area are <br />shown on Map 2.04.10-3. The sample adequacy calculations in Table 2.04.10-2, document that <br />the number of samples required to describe this site at the 90 percent confidence interval was 3.9 <br />transects. <br />Section 2.04. 10 Page 28 of 36 June 2016 (TR -14) <br />