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zo <br />• 38 soapweed. None of the area under consideration attained <br />those levels of composition in 1978. Cover and production <br />levels were attained only with the inclusion of annual <br />plants, which constituted about 508 of herbaceous cover and <br />biomass. Consequently, there is much room for improvement <br />in range condition and forage production. <br />One the other hand, the area under consideration should <br />not be expected to produce at an optimum for the Deep Sand <br />Range Site, because this area lies at, or just below, the <br />lower limit of precipitation given £or the site. The SCS <br />Range Site Description gives average annual precipitation <br />of 13 to 17 inches. Greeley and Fort Lupton, the nearest <br />U.S. Weather Service reporting stations, have long-term <br />average annual precipitation amounts of 11.3 and 12.5 <br />inches respectively. <br />Sandsage-Prairie Sandreed Association Reference Area <br />A Reference Area was located on Valent Sand in section <br />36 just west of the rehabilitation-plot area. An area 100 <br />by 100-feet was marked at the four corners by steel plates <br />10 by 12 inches staked in the center. The southeast corner <br />is located at a position 45 feet west and 20 feet north of <br />the southwest corner of the fenced .plot area. We sampled <br />the Reference Area, which was open to grazing by cattle in <br />1978, on 22 June 1978, to determine the cover and density <br />of sandsage and small soapweed, and the frequency of occur- <br />rence of all plant species. Sandsage and soapweed were <br />counted over the entire Reference Area to determine density. <br />Their cover was measured along ten 100-foot line transects <br />placed along the east-west coordinate at positions 5, 15, <br />25, 35, 95, 55, 65, 75, 85, and 95 feet from the south side. <br />Frequencies were observed by placing a 12 by 12-inch qua- <br />drat at 5-foot intervals along the ten transects. <br />Sandsage density was 491, which translates to 2,139 <br />per acre or one plant per 20 square feet, and its cover <br />was 138, soapweed density was 12, which translates to <br />56 per acre, and its cover was 1.28. D7ean frequency per- <br />centages by species are given in Table 2, which reveals <br />• the great prevalence of annual weeds. <br />,~ Due to good stands of prairie sandreed and western <br />wheatgrass, the Reference Area has better than average <br />range condition for the six sections. <br />