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3.1 North Decline Area <br />Ground cover of the North Decline Area consisted of 54.8% live vegetation, 10.45% rock, 26.95% <br />litter, and bare soil exposure of 7.8%. Perennial wver across the unit averaged 14.0% with annual and <br />biennial cover averaging 40.8%. Dominant taxa were cheatgrass, greasewood, fourwing saltbush <br />(Atriplex canesoens), and rubber rabbftbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) with 40.4%, 7.95%, 3.35%, <br />and 1.5% average cover, respectivey. This unit passes the revegetation success criterion of 90% of the <br />reference area value when both annual and perennial cover values are combined. It also passes when <br />ony perennial cover is compared. <br />Of the 20 ground cover transects for this area, three occurred within the pipeline corridor that was <br />redisturbed and reseeded in 2000. These three transects exhibited an average of 43.7% total plant Dauer <br />with cheatgrass contributing 25.0% of the cover, rubber rabbitbrush 10.0%, and four-wing saftbush <br />4.7%. This wrridor of more recent revegetation also exhibited somewhat elevated perennial grass <br />ground cover (1.7%) and a small patch of big sagebrush (Seriphidium tridentatum). <br />Woody plant density was determined from a total of 20 heft transects. Density (Table 5) totaled <br />1,704 young and mature sterns per aae with fourwing saltbush, rubber rabbitbrush, and greasewood the <br />dominarn woody plants. This unit easiy surpasses the woody plarn density revegetation success criterion <br />of 800 shrubs per acre. <br />Herbaceous perennial production is extremey low and highy variable for the shrub and cheatgrdss <br />dominated reclamation and reference areas. Current annual herbaceous production in the North Decline <br />area totaled 116.8 pounds per acre with perennials contributing only 4.6 pounds per acre (Table 4). <br />Despite these low values, this unit passes comparison with the revegetation success criterion of 90% of <br />the reference area value when both annual and perennial production is combined, but does not quite <br />pass when only perennial production is compared. <br />The North Decline area currently passes only two of the four diversity standards. There is sufficient <br />cover of perennial cool-season grasses to pass, and there are no planted species with greater than 70% <br />relative cover. However, the present relative Dover of perennial warm-season grasses (0.09%) and <br />perennial forts or sub-shrubs (0%) is insufficient to pass the required minimum values (2.0% and 0.5%, <br />respectivey). <br />SNOWCAP COAL COMPANY Page 13 ReVegetatloO EYaluatbn 2004 <br />