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Secondly, grazing may have resulted in the well-documented stimulation of lateral growth that <br /> occurs as many grasses respond to removal of top growth. Relative success in maintaining levels <br /> of cover and production in the Wadge Pasture has been accompanied by clear success in achieving <br /> greater shrub establishment. Between 1988 and 1989, the shrub count rose 49.4% in this <br /> area. <br /> The increased production of reclaimed areas subjected to grazing has been observed elsewhere by <br /> DePuil and Coenenberg (1989). At their site in Montana, these authors reported approximately <br /> 25 percent greater biomass production in the grazed reclamation, compared to ungrazed <br /> reclamation. They also observed substantial decreases in the abundance of standing dead litter <br /> and ground litter in grazed versus ungrazed areas. This correlates well with the observation that <br /> litter cover in the Wadge Pasture (Area D) in 1989 was 20.5 percent while the litter cover in <br /> the comparably-aged ungrazed areas (Areas B and C) was 42.4 and 36.3 percent, respectively. <br /> • <br /> Climatic Conditions <br /> Precipitation data by month from the Seneca II Mine for 1987, 1988, and 1989, as well as the <br /> long-term average from the nearby (but lower elevation) town of Hayden, are shown in Figure <br /> 6. During five of the six months preceeding the July 1989 sampling at the Seneca II Mine, <br /> precipitation was below that of 1987, which was qualitatively a very dry year (Figure 6). Note <br /> also, that the April 1989 and June 1989 precipitation totals were well below the long term <br /> average at Hayden, which is, on the average, drier than the Seneca II Mine site due to lower <br /> elevation. Likewise, four of the six months previous to July 1989 were drier than they were in <br /> 1988,which though not as dry as 1987 was still a drought year (see 1988 Revegetation <br /> Monitoring Report). That 1989 was again a drought year is clearly shown in the assessment of <br /> total precipitation for the previous 12 months for 1987, 1988, and 1989 (Figure 7). Similar <br /> treatment of total precipitation for the previous four months (Figure 8) and six months (Figure <br /> 9), also show that 1989 was at least as dry as 1987 and 1988. Although precipitation was low, <br /> heat expressed as total degree-days at Hayden (Figure 10) was only about 3.3 percent above <br /> long-term average. This no doubt ameliorated the elfects of low precipitation compared to 1987 <br /> . when precipitation conditions had been better than either 1988 or 1989, but total degree-days <br /> 25 <br />