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• The Wadge Pasture and Wadge Pasture '91 areas had the highest cover values of all reclaimed <br />areas, 73.2 and 74.5 percent, respectively. Not far behind was the 1988 Wolf Creek (68.4 <br />percent cover). The 1985 Wadge, 1985 Wolf Creek, 1988 Wadge and 1990 Wadge were <br />moderate with 59.4, 55.6, 58.7, and 56.9 percent cover, respectively. Lowest percent cover <br />(48.7 percent) was found in the 1990 Wolf Creek areas. Cover in the Mountain Brush and <br />Sagebrush Reference Areas was 74.9 and 70.0 percent, respectively. <br />Litter cover was similarly abundant in all the reclaimed areas except the Wadge Pasture and <br />Wadge Pasture '91, where the values of 19.4 and 20.1 percent litter cover, respectively, were <br />substantially lower than the other areas where litter cover was mostly in the 23 to 25 percent <br />range. Litter in the Mountain Brush Reference Area was low at 18.7 percent; litter in the <br />Sagebrush Reference Area at 23.9 percent was comparable to that in the bulk of reclaimed <br />areas. <br />The lowest bare soil abundance in reclaimed areas was observed in the 1988 Wolf Creek <br />reclamation (7.8 percent cover), the Wadge Pasture (6.7 percent cover), and the Wadge <br />• Pasture '91 (4.8 percent cover) areas. Other reclaimed areas ranged from 14.4 to 17.7 <br />percent bare soil cover. Bare soil cover in the Mountain Brush and Sagebrush Reference Areas <br />was low at 6.4 and 6.1 percent, respectively, comparable to the Wadge Pasture bare soil levels. <br />Rock cover was generally low, varying from 1.6 to 3.1 percent cover, except in the Wadge <br />Pasture and Wadge Pasture '91 areas where abundant vegetation cover intercepted projected <br />points first. There was no measurable rock cover in the reference areas. <br />In the older reclaimed areas (1985 Wadge, 1985 Wolf Creek, Wadge Pasture and Wadge <br />Pasture '91), introduced perennial grasses and forbs, especially alfalfa, are the most <br />prominent contributors to total vegetation cover. This trend is noticeable but less developed in <br />newer reclaimed areas. Even in the 1985 Wadge, the single most abundant lifeform is not <br />introduced, but rather is native perennial graminoids. In the 1988 Wadge and Wolf Creek <br />areas, as well as the 1990 Wadge and Wolf Creek areas (except for the abundance of annual <br />weeds), the distribution of cover among life-forms is much more even. <br />9 <br />