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Appendu A-Vegetation Sampling jor Io03 <br />Production was determined by hand clipping six separate 0.1-squaze-meter quadrats along each 25-meter <br />cover transect at meter-marks 2, 5, 9, 12, 14, and 22. Quadrat placement was randomly selected prior to <br />submittal of the approved sampling protocol. Additionally, the first production quadrat on each transect <br />was not clipped until after the cover sample-point along that portion of the transect was taken. Vegetation <br />was clipped and separated by life-form (perennial grass, annual grass, perennial fort, undesirable <br />perennial forb, annual forb, and biennial forb), with the sgecies alfalfa (Medicago saliva) separated from <br />other perennial forts. Clipped vegetation was initially sepazated and weighed to the nearest 0.1 gram with <br />the corresponding "wet" weight recorded. The six quadrats per transect were then averaged, resulting in <br />an individual production value per sample (transect). The "wet" weights for each sample were utilized in <br />the field to determine that an adequate number of samples had been collected. The clipped vegetation was <br />then oven-dried and re-weighed as a Seld "dr7~' weight. The dry weights were converted to pounds per <br />acre for each sampled area. <br />Fifteen transects per sampling unit were initially conducted prior to evaluation of sample adequacy. <br />Sample adequacy for vegetative cover and herbaceous biomass production within each sampling unit was <br />determined using the Snedecor-Cochran sample adequacy formula (Equation 3). <br />(3) <br />t2 s2 <br />Nmin = - <br />(dx)2 <br />Where: <br />N,,,;o = the minimum number of transects or quadrants needed, <br />= the a = .10 [-table value for asingle-tailed t-test with n-1 degrees of freedom, <br />s2 = the sample variance, <br />_ .1 {level of precision for estimate of the mean to be within 10 percent of the <br />actual mean), and, <br />x = sample mean <br />Vegetative cover data from the transects were used to determine sample size adequacy. Sample size <br />adequacy for vegetative cover was reached in each of the four sampling units with I S transects. Refer to <br />Table A-1 for a summarization of this data. <br />Herbaceous biomass production data fmm the clipped quadrats were used to determine sample size <br />adequacy. Sample size adequacy for herbaceous production was achieved with 15 transects (each <br />representing the averaged value of six 0.1-square-meter quadrats) in the AVF Reference Area and the <br />AVF Reclaimed Area. <br />Sample adequacy was not achieved in the Rangeland Reference Area or the Rangeland Reclaimed Area <br />(15 transects per azea) when the six quadrats per transect were averaged. Llpon completion of the IS <br />ttansects in each rangeland area, the required minimum number of transects, based on the "wet" weight of <br />the herbaceous production samples, was 41.8 in the Rangeland Reference Area and 129.7 in the <br />292 -Golden Eagle Phase ^1(10.07.05) A-2 <br />