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• the total. Snakeweed, a small plant present in a low growth form amid the sagebrush, was abundant with 1,756 individuals per acre or 36 percent of the total. The remaining 16 percent of the density is respectively provided by wildbuckwheat, mountain big sagebrush, rubber rabbitbrush and winterfat. Other shrubs such as fourwing saltbush, Gambel's oak (uercus gambelii), and Mormon tea are very sparsely represented in the vegetation type. Table 3 summarizes woody plant density data for the affected area. 3.3 Upland Sagebrush - Reference Area 3.3.1 Cover The reference area is characterized by an annual introduced weedy grass and numerous native perennial grasses amid a shrub composition dominated by big sagebrush (Table 4). The forb composition is diverse but very low in abundance. Cover by lifeform is 0.6 percent for trees, 11.0 percent for shrubs and subshrubs, 1.4 percent for succulents, 12.0 percent for perennial grasses, 8.4 percent for annual grasses, 0.6 percent for perennial fortis and 1.8 percent for cryptogams. Absolute vegetation cover is 35.8 percent. Soil, litter and rock cover are respectively high at 31.4, 18.2 and 14.6 percent. Figure 3 provides a view of the reference area. Three shrubs are prominent within the reference area. Mountain big sagebrush, with a cover of 7.6 percent, is followed in dominance by -- Snakeweed (2.6 percent) and fourwing saltbush (0.8 percent). Numerous smaller shrubs such as Mormon tea, wildbuckwheat and prickly gilia (Leptodactylon up ngens) occur as isolated individuals amid the taller examples of mountain big sagebrush. Rubber rabbitbrush, infrequently present, characterized disturbed areas. The rock outcrop on the edge of the terrace on which the reference area is located provides habitat for Utah juniper and pinyon pine. Only • pinyon pine, however, is presented (0.6 percent) in the cover. 9 nt,~r.:; ~ - ~ Nw%.l~q'a ,-`,`~~A~q:..~.w._i^.s~aR'M ~ - ~~.~ ~ -"-~°iM1'./wun"5`"~.''I_'ry5w.~`"