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Reference Areas <br />ASPEN REFERENCE AREA <br />(Photographs 33-36) <br />Cover <br />(Table 8) <br />Native shrubs were most abundant, composing 50.3% vegetation cover. Within this group, <br />Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) and chokecherry (Padus virginiana ssp. <br />melanocarpa) were most common, having 26.9% and 14.3% cover, respectively. Native <br />perennial (orbs composed 33.5% of total vegetation cover. Western aniseroot (Osmorhiza <br />occidentalis) (3.3% cover), Colorado violet (Viola scopulorum) (2.9% cover), and yellow prairie <br />violet (Viola nuttallii) (2.8°lo cover) were the dominant native perennial (orbs. Native perennial <br />cool season grasses were common (9.6% cover), especially blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus), with <br />3.7% cover. Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) was an important component of the <br />vegetation, contributing 39.6% to total cover. In general, this area was heavily vegetated, with <br />little bare ground or rock. The vegetation structure was complex, with multiple physiognomic <br />layers made up of herbs, shrubs, and trees. When added together, the data for each of these <br />overlapping layers summed to a total percent cover of greater than one hundred. <br />Total average vegetation cover, for first hits, was 85.1%. Total average vegetation cover, for all <br />hits, was 135.3%. Standing dead, litter, bare soil, and rock each had 1.2%, 12.6%, 1.1%, and 0% <br />cover, respectively (first hits). Average species density was 27.9 species/100 sq.m. <br />MOUNTAIN BRUSH EXTENDED REFERENCE AREA <br />(Photographs 37-40) <br />Cover <br />(Table 9) <br />Native shrubs were most abundant, comprising 74.6% vegetation cover. Within this group, <br />Gambel's oak (Quercus gambeliQ, Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), and mountain <br />snowberry (Symphoricarpos rotundifolius) were most common, having 35.2%, 19.3%, and 11.5% <br />cover, respectively. Native perennial cool season grasses was the second most abundant group <br />(23.1% cover), dominated by elk sedge (Carex geyen) (10.1% cover) and Agassiz bluegrass (Poa <br />agassizensis) (7.3% cover). Native perennial (orbs were the third most abundant lifeform (12.5% <br />cover), having numerous species with low percent cover values and no dominant species. <br />Western yarrow (Achilles lanulosa), northern bedstraw (Galium septrionale), and American vetch <br />(Vicia amedcana) had the highest percent cover values of this group (2.0%, 1.8°f°, and 1.3%, <br />I • respectively). <br />11 <br />