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Sagebrush Extended Reference Area (Photographs 22-25) COVER (Table 11) Native shrubs were most abundant in the Sagebrush Reference Area, making up 37.4% of the total 62% vegetation cover. Within this group, alkali sagebrush and mountain snowbeny were most common, having 19.1 % and 14.9% total cover, respectively. Native perennial forts were the second most common life form (11.7% cover), comprised by numerous species with low percent cover values and lacking dominant species. Weedy milkvetch (Astragalus miser var. oblongifolius), tailcup lupine (Lupinus caudatus), chokecherry lupine (Lupinus prunophilus), and an'owleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) had the highest percent cover values of the native perennial forts (2.9°k, 2.4%, 1.4%, and 1.2%, respectively). Native perennial cool season grasses were the third most abundant group (10.7% cover). Agassiz bluegrass (Poa agassizensis), western wheatgrass, and slender wheatgrass were the most abundant of this group. U Total average vegetation cover, for first hits, was 55.5%. Herbaceous vascular plant cover was 23.9°~. Standing dead, litter, bare soil, and rock each had 2.8%, 28%, 13.7°~, and 0°~ cover, respectively (first hits), Average species density was 26.3 species/100 sq.m. PRODUCTION (Table 12) No alfalfa was present in our sample. Total average production of all other species was 1,547.1 Its/acre. DISCUSSION Climatic Conditions The year preceding sampling in July 2005 included a fall with a very wet September and a winter and spring mostly near average except for June 2005 which was more than twice as wet as average (Figures 6a and 6b). When compared to other years in which • monitoring has occurred back to 1987, both the cumulative 12 months and 6 months total precipitation prior to sampling in 2005 ranked near the center of the nineteen years 11