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<br />• At the undisturbed adjacent pinyon juniper community, the vegetative cover is <br />dominated by trees with a low shrub/graminoid/fort understory. Overstory tree cover <br />is high and the dominant shrubs are mountain mahogany and yucca. Understory forts <br />are typically spring ephemerals in nature, and understory graminoids are bunchgrasses <br />or cheatgrass. This community could be placed in either the appreciable brush <br />category, or the trees but no appreciable brush category of Table 7, depending upon <br />interpretation. Given the stature of the pinyon and juniper trees, the latter category was <br />selected. Based on experience in this vegetation type, it was estimated that the canopy <br />cover was approximately 50 percent and that the cover that contacts the ground surface <br />is 40 percent. Within Table 7 a CP factor of 0.09 was selected. <br />Within the reclaimed area, the total vegetation cover (44.9%) is comprised of <br />spreading shrubs, bunch grasses with spreading bases and standing litter. These types of <br />vegetation provide significant cover contacting the ground surface. Grasses provide <br />18.00 percent of the vegetation cover, forts 6.93 percent of the cover and shrubs, <br />20.00 percent. Litter contributes 20.27 percent ground cover, and rock provides 5.33 <br />percent cover. This vegetation community fits within the canopy of tall weeds or short <br />brush category of Table 7. Interpolating within Table 7 (45% vertical projection and <br />50°lo ground cover) the CP factor for the reclaimed area is estimated at 0.06. It is <br />reasonable to expect that the CP factors for the reclaimed areas will be lower than the <br />native area since the reclaimed areas have a significantly higher proportion of grasses <br />and standing and fallen graminoid litter that contact the ground surface. <br />• <br /> <br />_¢ <br />