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Valley Mine. This plant community was naturally devoid of tree and shrub • vegetation and possessed a higher canopy coverage and production of forbs and grasses than the pinyon-juniper and mixed-shrub plant communities. It will be referred to as the herbaceous reference area. ,~ • Tables 1, 2 and 3 present the species diversity information (i.e. relative cover, vegetative class, longevity, seasonality and origin) for the dominant plant species of the pinyon-juniper, mixed-shrub and herbaceous reference areas. The pinyon-juniper and mixed-shrub reference areas will be considered indicative of the area's wildlife habitat while the herbaceous reference area snore closely approximates a rangeland post-mine land use goal. The pinyon-juniper and mixed-shrub reference areas are dominated by an overstory of shrub and tree species, including: Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), Utah serviceberry (Amelanchier utahen.sis), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), true mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus), pinyon (Pinus edulis), whortleleaf snowberry (Symohoricarpos oreophiilus) and squawapple Peraphyllum rainosissimum) (Tables 1 and 2). The understory of these reference areas is dominated by cool season annual grasses, cheatgrass broine (Bromus tectorum) and bromegrass (Bromus squarrosus). The herbaceous reference area is dominated by four perennial forbs: thistle (Cirsium perplexans), yellow sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis), sYrowy goldeneye (Viguiera multiflora) and tJafer-parsnip (Cymopterus planosus) one perennial grass: western wheatgrass (Agropvron sinithii); and one annual grass: Japanese bro~ne (Bromus japunicus). All of these species are cool season perennials with the exception of yellow sweetclover (biennial) and Japanese broine (annual). Reclaaation Mixtures In light of these data, C'.!I now proposes to modify its rrclanation seed and planting mixes to better reflect the natural conditions and achieve the -2-