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• INTRODUCTION <br />This report presents the results of a verification vegetation study conducted along <br />a portion of the proposed haul road connecting The Hayden Power Plont and Peabody Coal <br />Company's proposed Seneca II-W Mine. Most of the haul road crosses agricultural land <br />used for annual small grain production, and only a small portion crosses any native vege- <br />tation. The baseline studies focused on a portion of the native vegetation contained in a <br />realigned section of the haul road. The study centered on obtaining cover, production, <br />shrub density, and species diversity data for the native vegetation area. The vegetation <br />along the haul road is composed of a mixed sagebrush vegetation type. In addition To <br />obtaining data for the affected area, studies were also conducted in the mixed sagebrush <br />reference area located approximately 0.5 miles north of the affected area. Field work <br />for these studies was conducted in early June and July, 1985. <br />METHODS <br />The following discussion on methods pertains to data collection on the mixed sage- <br />brush vegetation type contained within the realigned haul road. <br />Cover Data Collection. Cover data were collected using a quadrat method. Ten <br />I.0 mZ quadrats were located along the haul road right-of-way and in the reference <br />area. In each quadrat total vegetation cover, cover by litter and rock combined, cover <br />by bare soil, cover by each species, moss cover, lichen cover, and rock cover were all <br />visually estimated to the nearest percent. In the lab the data were summarized and <br />mean cover, relative cover (percent of total cover), frequency, and relative frequency <br />(number of plots of occurrence for a species divided by the total plots of occurrence by <br />all species) were calculated. Importance values (the sum of relative cover and relative <br />frequency) were colculated for each species, and species were serially ranked on the <br />basis of importance value. The ranking approach allows for quick identification of those <br />species which are community dominants. <br />Production Data Collection. Production data were collected in the affected and <br />reference areas using a harvest method. All the vegetation occurring in ten I.0 m2 <br />• quadrats was clipped at ground level. All clipped samples were sorted on the basis of <br />species for grasses and perennial forbs. Annual forbs were combined into a single <br />