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reduced to'/z Ib. Per acre, and then further reduced to Yo Ib. per acre beginning in 1986. <br />• Reflecting this reduction, the data collected from 1985 Reclamation, showed that, in <br />1989, alfalfa comprised an average of 19.9 percent of the total biomass production. In <br />1992, it comprised an average of 6.5 percent of total biomass, and in 2000 the 1985 <br />Reclamation sampled had an average of 2.7 of total biomass as alfalfa. This <br />demonstrates an encouraging trend in which alfalfa is settling into a proportion of total <br />biomass that would be more typical of a forb species in the native vegetation rather than <br />functioning as a dominant as it has in the older reclamation. <br />Woody Plant Density <br />Figure 3 graphically presents shrub density totals for reclaimed areas sampled in 1999. <br />Average woody plant density in areas monitored at the Seneca II Mine since 1988 are <br />summarized below. <br />Sampling Year <br />1985 <br />1987 <br />1988 <br />• 1989 <br />1990 <br />1991 <br />1992 <br />1993 <br />1994 <br />1995 <br />1996 <br />1997 <br />1998 <br />1999 <br />2000 <br />Stems/acre <br />ALL Wadge Pas <br />378 NA <br />300 NA <br />314 322 <br />288 476 <br />281 408 <br />228 288 <br />157 344 <br />253 356 <br />234 271 <br />364 182 <br />209 239 <br />184 210 <br />257 547 <br />381 227 <br />235 393 <br />Although the average of all areas sampled each year includes some varying types, ages, <br />and numbers of areas, it documents the order of magnitude within which woody plant <br />density in reclaimed areas has varied, that is, between about 150 and 400 stems per <br />acre. Woody plant density in the one reclaimed area continuously sampled over the <br />period from 1989 to 2000 (Wadge Pasture) has averaged higher values than the overall <br />average on most years presumably because the grazing has reduced herbaceous <br />• competition. The most serious perturbation to woody plant density in Wadge Pasture <br />13 <br />