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• Vegetation Map. By sampling only the lower portions of the reference area, the plant cover <br />values would obviously be higher. <br />Shrubs dominated the plant cover on this site contributing 17.93 percent of the total cover or <br />50.09 percent of the total relative cover on this reference area. Perennial grasses contributed a <br />total of 9.40 percent of the total cover and 26.26 percent of the total relative cover on this site. <br />Perennial forbs contributed a total of 6.60 percent or 18.44 percent of the total vela&ve cover on <br />this site. <br />Wyoming Big Sagebrush was the dominant plant growing on this site, contributing a total of <br />39.39 percent of the total relative cover on this site. Idaho Fescue, Douglas Rabbitbrush and <br />Sulfur Buckwheat were the other dominants on this site, contributing 10.61, 8.57 and 5.96 <br />percent, respectively, of the total relative cover on this azea. <br />The locations of the 15 cover transects sampled on this site are shown on Map 1, Big Sagebrush <br />Reference Area -Vegetation Transect Location Map. Copies of the individual field data sheets <br />for the plant cover sampling of this site are found in Appendix A -Copies of Big Sagebrush <br />Reference Area -Plant Cover Field Data Sheets. The sample adequacy calculations in Table 2, <br />Kerr Mine Sample Adequacy Calculations, document that the number of samples required to <br />describe this site at the 90 percent confidence interval was 10.4 transects. <br />Production. The results obtained from the 30 production transects sampled on this site aze <br />presented in Table 4, Big Sagebrush Reference Area -Production. The average total production <br />on this site was determined to equal 12.50 g/1 /4mZ or 445.5 pounds ofair-dry forage per acre. <br />Perennial grasses contributed an average of 8.40 g/1/4mZ or 67.20 percent of the total herbaceous <br />forage production. Perennial forbs, contributed an average of 1.78 g!1/4mZ or 14.24 percent of <br />the total herbaceous production. Annuals, consisting almost totally of an annual native Beeplant, <br />contributed a total of 2.31 g/1/4m2 or 18.48 percent of the total herbaceous production. <br />Table 20 of the Kerr Permit reports that in 1980, the total production on this reference area was <br />reported to equal 4.76 g/1/4m2 or 169.6 pounds of herbaceous air-dry forage. In 1996, RMR <br />reported that the total herbaceous production averaged of 2.76 g/1/4mZ or 98.4 pounds of air-dry <br />forage per acre. In 1999, E$CO reported that the average herbaceous forage production on this <br />site averaged 10.25 g/1/4mZ which is the equivalent of 365.3 pounds of air-dry forage per acre. <br />Although exa,.»oa+ion of Table 2, Kerr Mine Sample Adequacy Calculations, reveals that the <br />forage production on this site at the 90 percent confidence interval was detenmined to equal 36.6 <br />transects, Kerr instead used the reverse null approach and written guidance received from the <br />DMG stating that sampling-could stop after 30 transects to demonstrate success of reclaimed <br />production. The locations of the 30 production transects are shown on Map 1, Big Sagebrush <br />Reference Area -Vegetation Transect Location Map. Copies of the original field data sheets for <br />this area are found in Appendix B -Copies of Big Sagebrush Reference Area -Production Field <br />Data Sheets. <br /> <br />