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the upper meadow were also sampled in the lower meadow. A similarity coefficient (Sorenson's) of 53.7% between the two meadows is relatively high considering that values of 57.5% and 52.6% were calculated when comparing baseline communities to their reference areas for the JW and MS communities respectively. It is also valuable to note that of the f-ve species that had a relative cover exceeding 3% in the lower meadow, ail were present in the upper meadow and all five had relative cover values exceeding 3%. Only two of the seven species with a relative cover greater than 3% in the upper meadow had less than 3% relative cover in the lower meadow. The fact that the most important species for each meadow were shared is consistent with a community being defined based on visually dominant species (page 2, Division's Guidelines). The decision to sample them in the same category was therefore reasonable. • The meadow community was dominated by annual and noxious plant species. Relative cover data indicated that bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) was the dominant or second most important species in the two sites. The annual grasses cheatgrass and Japanese brome (Bromus japonicas) combined for almost a quarter of the multiple hits. The most important perennial species were alfalfa (Medicago saliva) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa prarensis). No other perennial species contributed more than 2.0% relative cover. The suspected disturbed nature of the community and the high importance of annual and noxious species contributed to the decision not to fmd a reference azea; it seemed counter-productive to match aweed-dominated community to a weed-dominated reference area (which, additionally, was not evident in the surrounding area). Mr. Waldron of DMG agreed and expected that standards somehow related to the baseline data would be a more appropriate way of determining success for this community. • 19