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Percentage bare ground was fairly low (about 5$) in both areas. Litter <br />cover was considerably different on the two areas, at 46.3$ on the mine <br />area and only 26.5$ on the reference area. The lower figure on the <br />reference area was mostly due to the high vegetation cover, since only the <br />first point intercept was recorded. Litter cover was undoubtedly quite <br />high in the oak reference area, but it was not recorded as such due to <br />the measurement technique in use. <br />3.5.3 Woody Plant Density <br />Woody plants were counted in two different sized quadrats; shrubs and <br />seedlin gs less than 2 m tall were counted in 2 x 25m quadrats, trees and <br />shrubs more than 2m tall were counted in 4 x 25m quadrats. Table 0.5 <br />shows results of these density counts for both the mine and reference <br />areas. Four density counts for trees and shrubs were made in each area. <br />Oak seedlings and snowberry were the most abundant plants in the small <br />quadrants, each accounting for about 30-45$ of the total count. The other <br />• three species, serviceberry, big sagebrush and chokecherry, occurred at <br />relatively low densities. Total counts were comparable on the mine and <br />reference areas at 120.3 ± 32.3 and 114.8 ± 20.3 plants per quadrat, <br />respectively. <br />In the large quadrats, Gambel oak was the predominant tree as it ac- <br />counted for more than 90$ of the total count. Occasional serviceberry and <br />chokecherry shrubs more than 2m tall were also present. Total counts <br />were comparable on the mine and reference areas as 40.0 ± 6.1 and 43.8 t <br />9.1 trees were counted in each area, respectively. A significant number <br />of dead oak stems also occurred; though they weren't counted, then would <br />have increased the total by about 10-20$. <br />Both on the mine and reference area, densities in both the large and small <br />quadrats were sampled to meet the necessary statistical requirements. <br />3.6 Chokecherry Vegetation Type <br />• Like the sagebrush vegetation, the chokecherry type was also shrub- <br />dominated and frequently intergraded with the sagebrush type. These two <br />types were somewhat similar and tended to occur on similar topographic <br />