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and soil alkalinity affect the abundance of alkali sagebrush. Other than alkali sagebrush, mountain <br />snowberry and mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana) are the only other shrubs <br />even moderately common in this vegetation type. <br />Besides western wheatgrass, other grasses commonly present include Junegrass (Koeleria macranthal, <br />onion-grass (MEIICa spectabilis), Agassiz bluegrass a agassizensis), bottlebrush squirreltail <br />(Sitanion hyslrix), and Letterman needlegrass (Stioa lettermanii). <br />Total vegetation cover in the Western Wheatgrass /Alkali Sagebrush vegetation type is only 46.3 <br />percent, with 27.1 percent bare soil and 24.5 percent litter (Table 2). Herbaceous production was <br />observed to be 960.2 pounds of oven-dry forage per acre (Table 11). This is within the SCS estimates <br />of 500 to 2500 pounds of air-dry forage per acre for the soil series cited above. Shrub density in this <br />type was 4190 stems per acre, comprised primarily o1 alkali sagebrush; the only other significant <br />contributors were big sagebrush ,Douglas rabbitbrush (Chrvsothamnus viscidiflorusl, and mountain <br />snowberry (Table 17). <br />The Western Wheatgrass /Alkali Sagebrush type was not identified as a separate type in the original <br />. Seneca II-W baseline studies; areas of this composition were included in the Sagebrush type. To further <br />examine the comparability of the Permit and Expansion Areas, cover samples were randomly placed in <br />the Western Wheatgrass /Alkali Sagebrush type within the permit area in the primary locality of its <br />occurrence within the Sagebrush type. <br />By comparison, the 58.8 percent total vegetation cover Tor the Permit Area samples was higher than <br />the figure for the Expansion Area of 48.3 percent; permit area litter and bare soil were slightly Tower <br />than the Expansion Area (20.4 percent versus 24.5 percent, and 20.8 percent versus 27.1 percent, <br />respectively, ses Table 27). The differences in cover are very likely a direct reflection of differences <br />in management between the areas. The Permit Area has been for several years spared the heavy sheep <br />grazing still active in most parts of the Expansion Area. Within the type in both areas, however, <br />western wheatgrass is a constant dominant and alkali sagebrush is also a very common dominant. The <br />occurrence of spring ephemeral and grass species is also very similar in both areas. <br />Mesic Drainace (Figure 3) <br />This vegetation type, occurring as the most moist variant of the type in the general area, and <br />extremely limited in the study area, is confined to an area approximately 1100 feet long along Dry <br />10 <br />