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• Shrub species such as broom snakeweed and winterfat were evident in the grassland <br />community but were not a major component. Deep arroyos cut through the grassland <br />community and species such as rabbitbush and buffalo gourd were closely associated with <br />the arroyo communities. Forb species were not readily apparent during this sampling period <br />because of phenology. <br />Vegetation data for the grassland community is recorded in Table 11, Percent Cover and <br />Frequency for Herbaceous Species and Density for Shrub and Cacti Species in the Grassland <br />Community. <br />Pinyon-Juniper Dense pinyon and juniper vegetation communities occupy the ridge slopes <br />and tops which occur along the western edge of the permit area. These relatively dense <br />pinyon juniper vegetation communities grade into scattered pinyon juniper stands on level <br />areas, both above and below the steeper side slopes. All age classes of pinyon and juniper <br />were observed on the site. Large old growth stands were observed on some of the steep <br />rocky areas. In areas where it appears that there may have been afire-related disturbance, <br />young and vigorous trees were observed. Both pinyon and juniper seedlings were found <br />within the quadrats. <br />The vegetation information for the pinyon-juniper vegetation community is found in <br />Table 12, Percent Cover and Frequency for the Herbaceous Understory and Density and <br />Basal Area of Tree Species in the Pinyon-Juniper Vegetation Community. The density and <br />basal azea values represent a composite of the various age classes of the pinyon and juniper <br />• stands. <br />The understory of the pinyon-juniper community is relatively sparse. Blue grama, red <br />threewan, Indian rice grass, buckwheat, and side oats grama are present in the community. <br />The overall herbaceous ground cover for the pinyon-juniper community is appro~dmately <br />10%. Weed species such as russian thistle and cheatgrass were evident in the community, <br />but were relatively minor components. Occasionally, shrub species such as oak, mountain <br />mahogany, and bitterbrush were found associated with the pinyon juniper community. <br />Disturbed Several abandoned underground coal operations are present within the permit <br />area. Surface disturbance related to some of these abandoned mines is quite extensive. In <br />these extensively disturbed areas, the more weedy species were dominant (Table 13, Species <br />List for the Mine Plan Area). <br />Production <br />No actual production data were collected in the mine plan area during the August 1979 <br />survey. On the areas where the land has been consistently grazed, production was estimated <br />at 800 pounds per acre with the range condition being fair. The forage production, <br />estimated by the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is shown in Table 14, Forage <br />Production, Percent Vegetation Cover, and Carrying Capacity by Range Site. During <br />unfavorable years, the SCS reports a minimum of 400 pounds of air-dry forage per acre; <br />during normal years approximately 1000 pounds, and during favorable years a maximum of <br />• 2400 pounds. <br />2.04-74 <br />