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wheatgrass) providing 2.00 percent mean cover (5.14% relative cover), Ambrosia <br />psilostaclrya and Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama) and each contributing 4.53 percent <br />• relative cover with 3.00 and 2.00 percent mean cover, respectively, Oryzopsis Irymenoides <br />(Indian ricegrass) (2.00% mean) and Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) (1.00% mean) with <br />equal relative covers of 4.23 percent, Helianthus anmrus (annual sunflower) providing <br />1.20 percent mean cover (3.32% relative), and Artemisia frlifolia providing 1.20 percent <br />mean cover and 3.02 percent relative cover. <br />Vegetative litter (prior yeazs growth, dead wood, and other biologic organic material) <br />comprised 33.20 percent ground cover overall within the 1995 reclamation azeas. Baze <br />soil comprised 18.20 percent of the ground cover. No rock or cryptogams were <br />encountered during the cover sampling in the 1995 reclamation areas. <br />Herbaceous Production <br />Overall total herbaceous production within the 1995 reclamation azeas was 199.55 g/m2 <br />(1778 Ib/ac). Perennial grasses contributed the most to herbaceous production, 163.25 <br />g/m2 (1455 lb/ac), which accounted for 81.8 percent of total herbaceous production. <br />Annual grasses contributed the second lazgest amount to annual herbaceous production in <br />this area this year (18.11 g/m2 or 161 lb/ac). This represented 9.1 percent of total <br />herbaceous production. Annual forbs contributed 10.03 g/m2 (891b/ac) or five percent of <br />total herbaceous production. Perennial forbs provided 6.41 g/m2 (57 lb/ac), which was <br />32 percent of the total mean herbaceous production. Biennial forbs comributed the least <br />to herbaceous production in this azea with 1.75 g/m2 (161b/ac), which accounted for 0.9 <br />• percent of the total mean herbaceous production <br />Species Composition <br />Cover sampling identified three lifeforms and 23 species within the 1995 reclamation <br />areas. The lifeforms included thirteen species of perennial grass, one annual grass, two <br />perennial, two biennial, four annual forbs, and one woody shrub. Of the species <br />encountered on the 1995 reclamation areas, fifteen were native and eight were introduced. <br />Perennial and biennial species outnumbered annual species by eighteen to five. Both warm <br />and cool season species contributed to the seasonality of the 1995 reclamation azeas. <br />Crraminoid species were equally divide between cool and warm season species with seven <br />of each. Seven fort species were identified as cool season and one was warm season. The <br />shrub was deciduous. <br />The 1995 reclamation areas had twelve species contributing greater than three percent <br />relative cover this year. These species included eight perennial grasses, one annual grass, <br />one perennial and one annual fort, and one woody shrub. These species included Bromus <br />marginatus (16.62%), Bromus tectorum (14.80%), Calamovilfa longifolia (14.50%), <br />Agropyron dasystachyum (8.46%), Agropyron intermedium (6.34%), Agropyron <br />cristatum (5.14%), Ambrosia psilostaclrya (4.53%), Bouteloua gracilis (4.53%), <br />Oryzopsis Irymenoides (4.23%), Pantcum virgatum (4.23%), Helianthus anmsus (3.32%), <br />and Artemisia filifolia (3.02%). <br />• <br />-8- <br />