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Harry Ranney <br />March 1, 2002 <br />Page 2 <br />Vegetative Ground Cover <br />Vegetative ground cover will be evaluated on the three reclaimed area units by utilizing 50-meter <br />point intercept transects. Two sampling points (one meter apart} on both sides ofthe transect will be <br />sampled at one meter intervals, resulting in 100 sample points per transect. Each corresponding <br />sample point is determined by projection ofthe oculaz sight (Cover-Point Optical Point Projection <br />Device, Mode12) vertically downward and physically recording all manner of"first hits". The "first <br />hits" will be recorded as rock, bare ground, litter, or live vegetation. Live vegetation will be further <br />classified to genus and species. Vegetative ground cover on the reclaimed azeas will be considered <br />successful if the sample mean is at least 90 percent of the cover sample mean measured on the <br />corresponding reference area. <br />The live vegetative "first hits" will be used to calculate total vegetative cover for each transect <br />according to Equation 1. <br />(1) <br />Percent Total Vegetative Cover = Number of Hits on Vegetation <br />Total Number of Points <br />Fifteen transects will be initially evaluated on the Dryland Reference Area and each of the three <br />reclaimed area sampling units for success comparison and statistical evaluation purposes. Ten <br />transects will be initially evaluated on the AVF Reference Area. The Snedecor-Cochran sample <br />adequacy formula (Equation 2) will be utilized to determine that an adequate number of transects <br />are sampled. <br />(2) <br />~ sz <br />Nmin = - z <br />(dx) <br />Where: <br />N = required number of transects or quadrats <br />d = desired level of precision (0.1 the level ofprecision for estimate of the <br /> Mean to be within 10% of the actual mean} <br />x = sample mean <br />s2 = sample variance <br />t = the a = .10 t-table value for a single tailed t-test with n-1 degrees of <br /> freedom <br />