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pISCUSSION Cover As can be seen in Figure 1, 1996 cover was highest in the reference aretas, Wadge Pasture, and the 1989 reclaimed areas. 1989 and Wadge Pasture reclaimed areas (e:ven without confidence intervals) exceeded the 1996 success value (see Methods section). They more recently reclaimed 1992 and the older PECOCO Pasture areas were lower than this standard set by the reference areas. Over the period of record (1987 to 1996), average vegetation cover (see below) in the reclaimed areas was highest in 1987 (72.1 percent), slightly lower in 1988 (70.9 percent), substantially lower in 1989 (48.1 percent), somewhat higher in 1990 (60.2 percent), yet higher in 1991 (65.4 percent), declined somewhat in 1992 (60.1 perc:ent), rose again in 1993 (62.6 percent), dropped rather steeply in 1994 (52.8 percent), rebounded sharply in 1995 (65.7 percent), and then declined again in 1996 (55.0 percent). (See 1996 cover tables in Appendix 1 and the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995 Revegetation Monitoring Reports for the Seneca II Mine). These average figures admittedly are calculated from varying numbers of monitored areas and different aged areas, but inasmuch as a range of old to new reclamation of both the Wadge and Wolf Creek areas has been sampled each year, these data may tend to suggest trends: • Total Vegetation Cover AREA 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 199 3 199 4 199 5 19 96 ALL 72.1 70.9 48.1 60.2 65.4 60.1' 62. 6' 52 .8 65. 7 55. 0 Wadge Pasture - - - 79.1 70.6 65.4 78.6 73.2 77. 5 61 .0 78. 2 69 .7 Wadge Pasture 9l --- --- --- --- --- 74.5 64. 2 -- - -- - -- - Mountain Br. Reference 89.8 85.3 80.1 78.0 85.7 74.9 82. 2 63 .4 79. 0 82 .6 Sagebrush Reference 88.0 76.3 63.2 72.1 78.6 70.0 70. 4 66 .8 74. 8 69 .2 ' does not include Wadge Pasture '91 since no comparable area was included in previous or subsequent ye ars' data. • 16