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species. Cover was chosen in his study since it relates directly to the import- <br />. ante of a species within and between stands. In addition, cover values can be <br />equated with diversity since cover may be broken down into expressions of rich- <br />ness and evenness of species in stands or communities. <br />In sinnmary, it is euphemistic to say Chat diversity is not we 11 defined or agreed <br />upon by past and current researchers. Most researchers will concur that it is <br />directly related to the number of species occurring and is influenced by the dis- <br />tribution of those species. Measurement, quantification and interpretation of <br />these parameters however, are not agreed upon and are, in fact, strongly debated <br />amongst experts as is evidenced by the Literature cited previously. Diversity <br />indices as discussed ~in this section have been experimented with but have not <br />been applied for management purposes. In the past, land managers have relied on <br />a few simple measurements of vegetative expression to allow evaluations of diver- <br />sity as it related to the planned land use. Species composition for example, not <br />only provides a list of species present (richness) but also indicates the rela- <br />tive occurrence of each species (dominance). Species frequency is another long <br />-~ used parameter Co indicate the distribution of species. These paralne[ers ate <br />• well established in the literature and are well understood by land managers and <br />researchers. While they may not incorporate all of [he innuendos of diversity, <br />i[ is important to keep in mind that such innuendos are poorly defined, poorly <br />understood and even more poorly agreed on. While they provide fertile ground for <br />academic discussion and research, they are not understood or agreed upon well <br />enough to apply as criteria for assessing plant communities fur legal purposes. <br />3.6.1.4 Shrub Reestablishment <br />past reclamation work in [he region of the Trapper Mine indicates [hat shrub re- <br />esCablishmen[ should be another major reclamation issue. Shrubs in this applica- <br />tion are considered to be woody perennials. A large portion of the proposed mine <br />plan area is covered by shrubs on areas classified as rangeland freEer [o Section <br />3.6.3). <br />.' 3-66 <br />