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• correlate with north facing exposure and/or snow accumulation sites. Another locally <br />conspicuous component of this ecosystem is alkali sagebrush (Artemisia longiloba). This <br />low, early flowering and tridentate sagebrush varies from near absence to thorough <br />dominance. It is speculated that both grazing history and soil alkalinity affect the <br />abundance of alkali sagebrush. Other than alkali sagebrush, mountain snowberry and <br />mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana) are the only other shrubs even <br />moderately common in this vegetation type. <br />Mesic Drainage. This vegetation type is extremely limited in the study area, occupying <br />approximately nine acres. This vegetation type is primarily dominated by trees, shrubs, <br />and graminoids. The most abundant shrub species by far was mountain snowberry. The only <br />other modest contributions to cover by shrubs came from serviceberry (Amelanchier <br />alnifolia), basin big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata var, tridentata), gooseberry (Ribes <br />inerme), and Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii). Other common, if not particularly abundant, <br />species were silver sagebrush (Artemisia cana), rubber rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus <br />nauseosus), hawthorn (Crataegus rivularis), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana var. <br />melanocarpa), and golden current (Ribes aureum). Trees present were confined to unevenly <br />• distributed box elder (Acer negundo). The most important graminoids present were the <br />introduced red top (Agrostis alba), and the native silver sedge (Carex praegracilis), <br />beaked sedge (Carex utriculata), fowl mannagrass (Glyceria striata), and Agassiz <br />bluegrass (Poa aggassizensis). Other common but less abundant graminoids included slender <br />wheatgrass (Agropyron trachycaulum), smallwing sedge (Carex microptera), Nebraska sedge <br />(Carex nebrascensis), spikesedge (Eleocharis macrostachya), basin wildrye (Elymus <br />cinereus), and baltic rush (Juncus arcticus sp. balticus). <br />Forb. This habitat type occurs on the Seneca II -W permit area predominantly in <br />association with the western wheatgrass/alkali sagebrush type. It occurs as small open <br />areas, void of shrub cover, on exposed northern slopes and along gully bottoms. <br />Vegetation within this habitat type was dominated by perennial forbs such as mulesear <br />wyethia (W ey thia amplexicaulis), locoweed (Astragalus sp.), and Oregon fleabane (Erigeron <br />speciosus). Grasses, such as western wheatgrass and Agassiz bluegrass were also present <br />within this habitat type. A picture of this forb habitat taken May 27, 1982 is presented <br />as Figure 11-5. The forb type was not sampled individually as a separate community type <br />during vegetation baseline studies. <br />• Wildlife studies were conducted to determine the species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and <br />5 <br />