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areas, or <br />• those transitional between two community types, were not sam- <br />pled due to the high variability among vegetation components. <br />For the aspen (Populus tremuloides) community, the major criterion for <br />suitability was presence of a sufficient density of aspen trees to cause a <br />moderately closed canopy. Aspen stands usually had abruptly defined <br />boundaries, and sample site selection was not difficult, though the edges <br />of stands were avoided. <br />For the Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) community, stands had to be suffi- <br />ciently large and dense to avoid edge effects or transitional influences <br />toward other communities. Small, scattered clumps of Gambel oak were not <br />sampled, since the presence and influence of the oak canopy was too <br />limited to generate a homogeneous sample of this community. <br />The sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) community was characterized by the <br />presence of both sagebrush and snowberry in at least a moderate density. <br />Sagebrush was considered the more important shrub in characterizing the <br />• community, as its distribution was more restricted, and therefore, char- <br />acteristic of this community. <br />The chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) community was defined by at least a <br />moderate abundance of chokecherry. snowberry was also usually present, <br />but chokecherry was the dominant shrub in this community. <br />The wet meadow community comprised a small, welldefined area and all <br />sampling was conducted within this area. <br />2.2.2 Random Sample Selection <br />All points within the area of undisturbed vegetation on the mine plan area <br />(to be disturbed by mining) were considered for sampling. For each <br />community type, sampling locations were randomly distributed within areas <br />of acceptable and homogeneous vegetation. <br />This was generally accomplished as follows: using the existing vegetation <br />. map, suitable community locations were noted during the reconaissance <br />activity. On entering each suitable area, one of two procedures was used: <br />in small areas a frisbee was thrown in a random direction and its point of <br />