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ALKALI SAGEBRUSH REFERENCE AREA <br />Cover. The results obtained from the 15 cover transects sampled on this site are found in Table <br />5, Alkali Sagebrush Reference Area -Plant Cover. Total plant cover on this site averaged 31.07 <br />percent and litter averaged 21.87 percent (Table 5, Alkali Sagebrush Reference Area -Plant <br />Cover.) <br />Shrubs dominated the plant cover on this site, contributing 23.60 percent of the total cover or <br />75.96 percent of the total relative cover on this reference area. Perennial grasses contributed a <br />total of 3.73 percent of the total cover and 12.02 percent of the total relative cover on this site. <br />Perennial forts contributed a total of 3.73 percent or 12.02 percent of the total relative cover on <br />this site. <br />Alkali Sagebrush was the dominant plant growing on this site, contributing a total of 14.47 <br />percent of the total cover and 46.56 percent of the total relative cover on this site. Douglas <br />Rabbitbrush, Wyoming Big Sagebrush, Common Stonecmp and Prairie Junegrass were the other <br />dominants on this site, contributing 21.46, 7.51, 6.65 and 4.93 percent, respectively, of the total <br />relative cover on this area. <br />Table 26 of the Kerr Pemut states that in 1980, the total plant cover growing on this site <br />averaged 38.0 percent. When RMR sampled this site in 1996, they reported that the total plant <br />cover averaged 50.16 percent. In their 1999 sampling of this site, ESCO reported that total plant <br />. cover averaged 33.4 percent. <br />The locations of the 15 cover traosects sampled on this site in 2005 are shown on Map 2, Alkali <br />Sagebrush Reference Area -Vegetation Transect Location Map. Copies of the individual field <br />data sheets for the plant cover sampling of this site are found in Appendix C -Copies of Alkali <br />Sagebrush Reference Area -Plant Cover Field Data Sheets. The sample adequacy calculations in <br />Table 2, Kea Mine Sample Adequacy Calculations, document that the number of samples <br />required to describe this site at the 90 percent confidence interval was 2.5 transects. <br />Production. The results obtained from the sampling of the 30 production transacts on Alkali <br />Sagebrush Reference Area are presented in Table 6, Alkali Sagebrush Reference Area - <br />Production. Total herbaceous forage production on this location averaged 6.61 g/1/4mZ or 235.6 <br />pounds or air-dry forage per acre. Perennial grasses averaged 4.63 g/1/4mZ and contributed <br />70.05 percent of the total herbaceous forage and perennial forts, contributed an average of 1.98 <br />g/1 /4mZ or 29.95 percent of the forage produced on this site. There were no annuals sampled in <br />any of the production plots at this site. <br />Table 26 of the Ken Permit states that total herbaceous production in 1980 for the Alkali <br />Sagebrush Reference Area averaged 7.18 g/] /4mZ or 255.7 pounds of air-dry forage per acre. In <br />1996, RMR reported that the total herbaceous production on this site averaged 3.64 g/1/4mZ or <br />129.7 pounds of air~ry forage per acre. In 1999, ESCO reported that the total herbaceous <br />forage production on this site averaged 10.6 g/1/4mZ or 377.8 pounds of air-dry forage per acre. <br /> <br />