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In the Sagebrush Reference Area, cover was dominated by shrubs, basin and mountain big <br />sagebrush (10.5 percent cover) and mountain snowberry (7.5 percent cover), three grasses, <br />sheep fescue (16.9 percent cover), Agassiz bluegrass (6.9percent cover), and Montana <br />wheatgrass (4.9 percent cover), and the (orbs Pacific aster (5.0 percent cover), arrowleaf <br />balsamroot (4.4 percent cover), and timber milkvetch (3.6 percent cover). Litter was <br />modestly abundant at 16.6 percent cover, and bare soil comprised 4.8 percent cover. <br />Production <br />Production data from the 1991 monitoring studies are presented in Tables 10 through 16. <br />Data are summarized in Table 28, and graphically displayed in Figure 2. <br />Highest herbaceous biomass production was measured in the Wadge Pasture area (2874 oven- <br />dry lbs. per acre). The 1964 and 1987 Wadge reclamation areas (2233 and 2225 lbs. per <br />acre, respectively) were the second most productive areas. Both the 1984 and 1987 Wolf <br />Creek reclamation areas (1760 and 1929 lbs. per acre, respectively) were distinctly less <br />productive than the Wadge reclamation areas. All reclaimed areas had herbaceous production <br />greater than either the Mountain Brush or Sagebrush Reference Areas. <br />• In the older reclamation (1984 Wadge and Wolf Creek and Wadge Pasture), alfalfa comprised <br />from 24 to 40 percent at total production. ey comparison, the 1987 Wadge and Wolf Creek <br />areas had 9.6 and 7.9 percent alfalfa. <br />Shrub Density <br />Shrub density data are presented in Tables 17 through 25, summarized in Table 28, and <br />graphically displayed (for reclaimed areas only) in Figure 3. <br />Highest shrub density in reclaimed areas was observed in the 1984 Wolf Creek area (457.3 <br />stems per acre), while the lowest was found in the 1989 Wadge and 1989 Wolf Creek areas <br />(18.2 and 95.1 stems per acre, respectively). The Wadge Pasture shrub density was <br />moderate at 288.1 stems per acre. It was somewhat higher though than the 1987 Wadge and <br />Wolf Creek areas (159.9 and 286.0 stems per acre, respectively). <br />The most abundant shrubs in all reclaimed areas were basin big sagebrush, mountain big <br />sagebrush, and mountain snowberry. Shrub reproduction, nearly nonexistent in the 1990 <br />• sampling, being observed at that time only very scantly in the Wadge Pasture area, was more <br />8 <br />