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Harry Ranney <br />January 22, 2004 <br />Page 2 <br />Vegetative Ground Cover <br />Sampling for vegetative ground cover will be conducted in June of 2004. Vegetative ground cover <br />will be evaluated on the Dryland Reference Area and the two reclaimed area units using 50-meter <br />point intercept transects. Two sampling points (one meter apart) on both sides of the 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 of the ocular sight (Cover-Point Optical Point Projection <br />Device, Model 2) vertically downward and physicallyrecording 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 areas 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 "5rst 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 ofHits on Vegetation <br />Total Number of Points <br />Fifteen transects will initially be evaluated on the Dryland Reference Area and both of the reclaimed <br />area sampling units for success comparison and statistical evaluation. The Snedecor-Cochran sample <br />adequacy formula (Equation 2) will be used to determine that an adequate number of transects are <br />sampled. <br />(~) <br />i's' <br />Nmin = (d z )2 <br />Where: <br />N = required number of transects or quadrats <br />d = desired level ofprecision (0.1 the level ofprecision for estimate ofthe <br />Mean to be within 10% of the actual mean) <br />x = sample mean <br />sZ = sample variance <br />t = the a = .10 t-table value for a single tailed t-test with n-1 degrees of <br />freedom <br />