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• major influence affecting the composition and abundance of herbaceous vegetation. Composition of herbaceous vegetation was similar to that in the aspen type. Dominant herbaceous species included bluegrass, blue wild rye, foothills brome, bedstraw (Galium boreale), yampa (Perideridia gairdneri), and sueet anise. On the mine plan azea, several oak stands were sampled (Figure 1). Clip- ping plots were placed at widely separated intervals across the area. Two separate oak stands were chosen as reference areas. Sampling was ap- proximately equally divided between the reference areas. 3.5.1 Herbaceou sBiomass In general, Gambel Oak tended to occur on slightly more arid sites than did the aspen vegetation. This was reflected in slightly lower standing crop biomass here than in aspen. Tables 0.1 and 0.2 contain results of the biomass clipping estimates for the mine and re*erence area, re- spectively. Fifteen plots were clipped in each area and mean dry weight • was 53.4 *_ 17.2 g/m2 on the mine area and 61.9 ± 12.7 g/m2 on the ref- erence area. Both areas were adequately sampled to meet statistical re- quirements, and since the mean dry weight was slightly higher on the reference area, no statistical comparison was necessary between the areas. Again, numerous minor forb species were lumped together in the forbs catagory, since their individual weights were too low to be recorded sep- arately . 3.5.2 Herbaceous Cover Four transect cover measurements were made on both the mine and ref- erence areas, as shown in Tables 0.3 and U.4, respectively. Herbaceous cover was substantially higher on the reference area, at 68.5$ ± 2.4 while it was only 48.8$ # 6.6 on the mine area. The higher percentage cover on the reference area most likely relates to several parameters which affect vegetation abundance such as slope, aspect, or moisture availability. Species composition and relative abundance were similar between the two sites, though mean percent foliage cover was higher for several species on • the reference area. Generally, the same species were prominent here as had been recorded in the clipping pots.