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eh <br />ESPEY, HUSTON & ASSOCIATES, INC. <br />l J <br />in this community at 1.19. The relatively low diversity and equitability values aze <br />apparently caused by the lack of a shrub stratum in this meadow community and the <br />subsequent low number of species encountered. <br />3.2.2 Big Sagebrush Community <br />A big sagebrush community occurs on relatively deep and well-drained <br />silty clay loam and loamy soils. This low shrub community extends upslope blending <br />into the mountain shrub community as slope increases, as soil textures become <br />lighter, and as available soil moisture increases. The major soil types include the <br />Barnette loam, Shawn loam and Dollazd silty clay loam. <br />A portion of this community in the valley bottom that drains west to <br />Curtis Creek has been sprayed with 2,4-D to kill big sagebrush and increase the <br />grass cover. Spray killed approximately 50 to 75 percent of the big sagebrush in this <br />azea, permitting rubber rabbitbrush (C sothamnus nauseosus) and numerous <br />• pioneering forb to invade. <br />Cover <br />The vegetation of the big sagebrush community is chazacterized by <br />8 species of shrubs, 20 graminoids, and 37 forbs. Forbs with a total vegetation cover <br />of 29.0 percent represent the dominant life-form, followed by graminoids with a <br />cover of 21.2 percent and shrubs with a cover of 15.0 percent. Total vegetation <br />cover (shrubs plus herbs) was 5.2 percent; fitter cover was high, 45.1 percent; soil <br />cover moderate, 18.2 percent; and rock cover low, 2.0 percent (see Table K-4). <br />Big sagebrush, with a cover of 8.2 percent, is the major shrub. Rubber <br />rabbitbrush and mountain snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus) aze common <br />shrubs, contributing 2.7 and 2.4 percent cover, respectively. Other shrubs occurring <br />infrequently aze: Douglas rabbitbrush (Ch~sothamnus viscidiflorus), serviceberry <br /> <br />K-18 <br />