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• Section 2.05.4(~(e) Reveeetatioo (continued) <br />3. Elimination of the woodv stem density standard. Mr. Leo Montoya, the land owner, is not <br />interested in woody stems being present on his land (please see his letter which is included as <br />page 4d of this section). Reclamation is intended to maximize the use of the land for grazing <br />purposes and the post-mining land use. Furthermore, a pocket of shrubless land in a tree <br />dominated landscape represents an improvement with regard to wildlife habitat. This has been <br />the case at mines such as Blue Ribbon where elk and deer were noted even in DMG inspection <br />reports to be selectively foraging in the herb dominated reclaimed community. A small <br />herbaceous reclaimed site increases the habitat diversity for that locale, and as such, is valuable <br />to wildlife. The woody matrix surrounding Rimrock is very common habitat - it is not a rare <br />and endangered one. Therefore, re-establishing woody plants is not particulazly beneficial or <br />necessary. <br />Veeetation Samoline Methods: <br />Sampling methodology for a Phase II survey will only involve the collection of first hit cover <br />data enabling both the evaluation of cover and species diversity. Total vegetative cover will be <br />estimated using an optical point frame. Sample points will be located on a north-south grid. <br />Point sitings will be located along a 25 meter transect. Smaller transect length (25 meters vs. <br />• 50 meters) is preferred at Rimrock because of how small and relatively irregularly shaped the <br />disturbed area is. The transect will be stretched out either IVW, NE, SE, or SW of the sample <br />unit. These four possible directions are chosen so as to minimize the potential for transect <br />overlap. The 50 points per transect (one point at each half meter interval) will comprise a <br />single sample unit. Cover will be identified by species, or as rock, litter, or bare ground. For <br />the purposes of estimating total vegetative cover, only first hit data will be used. First hit data <br />are sufficient to also allow an excellent estimate of species diversity to be gathered, especially <br />considering the herbaceous nature of the reclaimed community. <br />For a Phase III study, total vegetative cover will be estimated as described in the paragraph <br />above. However, species diversity evaluations will be based on relative cover values <br />calculated using multiple hit data. Additionally, the total herbaceous productivity of the <br />reclaimed community will be estimated. Production plots will be located on a north-south grid <br />but will be selected independently of the cover samples (i.e., cover sample 1 will not be <br />collected at the same grid location as production sample 1). Production plots will be '/, meterZ <br />in size (%: meter x'/: meter). This size is chosen <br />-4b- <br />Revised 8/7/97 <br />• 7R-~~ <br />