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The dominate three grasses in 1997 were found to be Intermediate Wheatgrass (22.55 <br />percent), Crested Wheatgrass (20.10 percent) and Western Wheatgrass (18.14 percent), <br />which contributed a combined 60.79 percent of the total plant cover on this site. Of <br />interest in these data is the fact that the warm season grasses in 1997 accounted for <br />13.72 percent of the total plant cover, 4.05 percent of the total plant cover in 1991, and <br />only 2.14 percent of the total cover on this site in 1989. These data appear to suggest a <br />progressive increase in the amount of warm species grasses in the reclaimed stand over <br />time. <br />Production. Forage production from the 1987 site in 1997 was estimated to average 50.16 <br />grams per quarter square meter or 1,788 pounds of air dry forage per acre (Table 8, <br />Summary of Plant Production). In 1991 production on this site was determined to be <br />15.45 grams per quarter square meter or 551 pounds of air dry forage per acre. This <br />compares with 32.54 grams per quarter square meter or 1,160 pounds of air dry forage <br />per acre for this site from the 1989 monitoring effort. These data appear to suggest that <br />production is continuing to increase as the seeded stand matures. <br />JANUARY 1992 RECLAMATION SEEDING. <br />C v r. The total plant cover on this site as determined from the 1997 sampling effort was <br />found to equal 40.8 percent (Table 4, January 1992 Reclaimed Area Percent Plant Cover, <br />Species Composition and Frequency). The dominate plants on this site were found to be <br />cool season grasses, Western Wheatgrass and Intermediate Wheatgrass. The native <br />warm season grass, Blue Grama was a subdominate species. A total of five cover <br />transects were evaluated on this site and sample adequacy at the 90 percent level was <br />determined to equal 10.68 transects. This is the first time this reclaimed site has been <br />sampled, the 1997 data cannot be compared with previously collected data. The plant <br />species composition data suggest that this location is developing into a desirable stand <br />with a visible component of seeded and native perennial fortis. This stand appears to <br />have the highest forb component of any site studied. <br />Production. Forage production on this reclaimed site was found to equal 43.45 grams per <br />quarter square meter or 1,549 pounds of air dry forage per acre (Table 8, Summary of <br />Plant Production). This value is slightly lowered than the production found on the 1983 <br />and 1987 reclaimed sites. <br />NOVEMBER 1992 RECLAMATION SEEDING. <br />Cover. A total of five cover transects were evaluated on this reclaimed site and sample <br />adequacy at the 90 percent confidence level was found to equal 3.13 transects. This <br />means that a sufficient number of samples were taken on this site to characterize with a <br />relatively high degree of accuracy the plant cover characteristics of this site. <br />The average total plant cover on this site was found to equal 40.2 percent (fable 5, <br />5 <br />