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• A cottonwood stand in Big Bottom <br />• A sagebrush stand in Big BottomAn upland sagebrush stand <br />• A sagebrush stand on the Williams Fork Mountains <br />The locations of these study sites are presented on Figure 38, Vegetation Community Sampling Locations. <br />Within each of these study areas the vegetation, birds, big game, and small manunals were studied over atwo-(2) year <br />period. As mentioned previously, these studies were conducted by Ecology Consultants, Inc., as contractor for <br />Stearns-Rogers, Inc. Wildlife information obtained from this study is presented in Section 2.04.11 Fish And Wildlife <br />Resource Information. <br />In each of the three-(3) sagebrush stands the following data was gathered: <br />• Percent cover contributed by the various species occurring in the community <br />• Percent of bare ground <br />• Total community cover <br />• Relative cover of each species <br />This information was determined by line-intercept sampling. <br />In all sampled vegetation stands, five (5) 100-foot lines were laid out at random from a randomly selected point within <br />the stand. The length of these lines passing over or intercepting the various plant species or areas of bare ground were <br />recorded to the nearest 0.1 foot. <br />In the upland sagebrush stand and the sagebrush stand on the Williams Fork Mountains, the density of sagebrush was <br />also determined using the point quarter procedure. In each stand, 120 point-to-sage distances were measured to the <br />nearest inch for calculating sagebrush density. This procedure was also used to determine cottonwood and box elder <br />density in the Big Bottom cottonwood stand. The basal area and circumference at breast height were recorded for <br />each tree sampled. <br />Cottonwood Stand And Saeebrush Stand in Bi Bottom <br />Results of 1978 Sampling. Big Bottom is a flat river bottom containing groves of cottonwood Po ulus eneustifolia} <br />and boxelder (Ater spp.) together with red osier dogwood (Comus stolonidera) and hawthorn Ca eus sppJ shrubs. <br />The shrubs, although associated with some of the forest areas, are more often absent or scattered. The limitation of <br />this underbrush is to some degree a consequence of domestic grazing intensity. A luxuriant ground cover primarily <br />consisting of sandburg bluegrass (Poa secunda), Inland saltgrass (Distichlis s icata , western wheatgrass (Aeropyron <br />smithii), smooth brome (Bromus inermis ,rush Juncus balticus ,and sedge (Carex spp.), is characteristic of the <br />cottonwood stands and adjacent marshy overflow areas. <br />About 95 % of the trees in these riverbank communities are cottonwoods. Groups of old, large cottonwoods comprise <br />about 60 percent of the trees in this sampled stand. Hawthorn grows only under the older trees probably because of <br />shade and moisture requirements, which cannot be met beneath the younger cottonwoods. A few boxelders are <br />scattered among the younger trees but their significance to the structure to the community is relatively small. <br />Poorly drained, wet, or marshy areas extend from the Yampa River into the surrounding fields. The open flat regions <br />are used for ranching and are planted as wheat fields and wheatgrass pastures or are vegetated with wildgrass types. <br />Various sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) communities form a significant portion of the northern portion of the valley. <br />These communities are heavily grazed by cattle and sheep. Grazing is so wide spread that no ungrazed sage <br />community was found in Big Bottom. <br />Permit Renewal No. 4 2.04-36 Revised 3/5!03 <br />