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• Mountain Brush Reference Area is probably an artifact of having fewer samples fall in the very <br />heavy oak-serviceberry stands, which tends to have relatively little herbaceous production, <br />because of the typically heavily shaded and, consequently, sparse understory. <br />Of particular interest is the fact that the rise in production levels between 1991 and 1992 <br />occurred while cover fell in those same areas. Because cover data primarily reflect two <br />dimensions of the vegetation and don't directly address the variable of height, production <br />increasing while cover decreases might reflect a general tendency for plants to grow more <br />erect, with less "spread" and more height. Since 1992 was a year with relatively high <br />precipitation and was also quite warm (see Climate Data, below), it may be that internode <br />lengths of grass stems were extra-long as biological processes of growth proceeded at a very <br />rapid rate. In 1990, in Wadge Pasture, cover decreased by 5 percent while production <br />increased by over 500 pounds per acre. 1990 likewise was a relatively warm year, although it <br />was also a relatively dry year. <br />The abundant herbaceous production of the reclaimed areas provides a significant grazing <br />resource. Since, for the most part, woody species, especially old growth, offers little that <br />• grazing animals find palatable, the reclaimed areas as they presently exist are probably more <br />closely compatible with the objectives of livestock growers, and may also be very compatible <br />with the needs of wild ungulate grazers such as elk. The latter apparently find the production of <br />the reclaimed areas much to their liking as evidenced by accounts of mine personnel citing the <br />abundance of elk, especially during the winter, and the abundance, during summer sampling, of <br />their scat throughout many parts of the reclamation. Deer are commonly present in the <br />reclamation as well. <br />The usefulness of reclaimed area production can be assessed by determining the proper livestock <br />stocking rates based on measured biomass production. The estimated stocking rates for the <br />reclaimed and reference areas in 1992 are as follows: <br />Reclaimed Unit AUM /acre <br />1985 Wadge 0.9 <br />• 17 <br />