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percentages increased between 5.6 percent (1998 reseeded and interseeded areas) and <br />. 45.6 percent (1997 reclamation areas) from 2002. Relative fort cover remains dominated <br />by annual species in all reclamation azeas and the reference azea. Trends in fort cover <br />relative to precipitation aze less apparent than the response of the graminoids, though in <br />general there are greater numbers of fort species present with increased precipitation. <br />For the purposes of direct comparison, quamitative cover data is present (Table 13) for <br />the 1995 and 1997 reclamation areas (1998-2003), the 1998 reseeded or imerseeded azeas <br />(1999-2003), the 1999 reclamation azeas (2003), and the Osgood sand reference area <br />(1994-2003). <br />With the increased precipitation during the late winter and spring of 2003, overall <br />vegetation weer correspondingly increased. Vegetation cover at the Osgood sand <br />reference azea increased 247 percent from 2002, the lazgest increase of the areas sampled. <br />Increases in vegetation rover at the reclamation azeas ranged from 136 percent (1998 <br />reclamation areas) to 168 percent at the 1997 reclamation, with the 1995 reclamation <br />areas showing a 168 percent increase. <br />Mean total vegetation rover was relatively wnsistent this season within the 1995, 1997, <br />and 1998 azeas, ranging from 39.00 percent (1995 reclamation areas) to 43.60 percent <br />(1997 reclamation areas). The Osgood sand reference azea claimed significantly higher <br />total vegetation rover levels than the reclamation areas with 55.80 percent total vegetation <br />rover. Based on historic monitoring (Table 14), wntributions of Stipa viridula and <br />Helianthus anmrus at the highest levels rewrded in the last decade figured significantly in <br />the elevated total vegetation rover levels of the reference area, disproportionate to the <br />reclamation azeas. <br />4.3 HERBACEOUS PRODUCTION <br />Total herbaceous production was more wnsistem overall than vegetation rover during the <br />2003 growing season (Table 13). Mean herbaceous production ranged from 130.21 g/m2 <br />(Osgood sand reference area) to 163.05 g/m2 (1997 reclamation azeas). All areas showed <br />a significant increase in herbaceous production over 2002 production values, ranging from <br />188 percent (1998 reseed/mterseeded areas) to 495 percent in the Osgood sand reference <br />area. <br />Total herbaceous production was neazly evenly divided in the Osgood sand reference area <br />between perennial graminoids (45.3%) and annual forts (49.3%). In the reclamation <br />areas, perennial grasses dominated total herbaceous production in all areas sampled this <br />year accounting for between 45.8 percent (1998 reseededfmterseeded azeas) and 95.1 <br />percent (1995 reclamation areas) of the total herbaceous production. Annual grass <br />wntributions varied widely between azeas this yeaz. Bromus tectorum wntributions to <br />total herbaceous production ranged from a low of 0.06 percent (1999 reclamation azeas) <br />to a high of 16.5 percent in the 1998 reseeded and interseeded areas. Annual and perennial <br />forts wntributed significantly also this yeaz, with total production of all forts ranging <br />Coors Energy ComPary Page 19 <br />2003 Rmmgetation Monitoring Report <br />