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1 <br /> <br />observations made within the area, big sagebrush in becoming more <br />' abundant. <br />' Summaries for mean cover for the years 1989-1994 for each of the <br />reclaimed areas and for the two areas combined are presented in Tables <br />' 2, 4 and 6. When examining these data it is important to recognize that <br />in 1991 the area was accidentally grazed by cattle prior to the time <br />' when the cover data were obtained. For the area seeded in 1984 (Table <br />' 2), there has been a high level of consistency among the five years of <br />data collection. Mean total vegetation cover has remained close to 25- <br />' 30 percent, except in 1991 when the site was grazed. The vegetation is <br />mostly dominated by native cool season perennial grasses and big <br />' sagebrush (Table 2). In general, increases in cover by big sagebrush <br />have been somewhat offset by slight decreases in cover by cool season <br />perennial grasses. This relationship was especially obvious in the 1993 <br />' and 1994 data where cool season perennial grasses decreased from 13.7 <br />percent in 1993 to 7.7 percent in 1994 and big sagebrush increased from <br />' 8 percent to 20 percent in the same time interval. <br />The area seeded in 1988 currently has higher mean cover values for <br />1 both native and introduced perennial grasses than the 1984 areas. Cover <br />' by big sagebrush is still quite low in the 1988 areas and has a mean <br /> cover value of less than one percent. <br /> The mean total vegetation cover data for the two areas combined <br /> suggest that followi ng the initial year of sampling when mean total <br />' <br /> vegetation cover was 18.4 percent, the cover has increased to <br />' approximately 30 percent (the value obtained in 1990, 1992 and 1993). <br />The low value in 1991 was almost certainly related to livestock grazing. <br />' There have been some other interesting changes over the last four years. <br />' -4- <br />