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• averaged 2.6 percent of total vegetation cover. Linearleaf collomia (Collomia linearis) <br />accounted for most of this. Native perennial forbs averaged 5.6 percent of total vegetation <br />cover. Western yarrow (Achilles lanulosa) and James starwort (Pseudostellaria <br />jamesiana) accounted for most of this average. Introduced perennial forbs averaged 1.3 <br />percent of total vegetation cover. Native shrubs averaged 1.0 percent of total vegetation <br />cover with bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) accounting for nearly all this. <br />Total vegetation cover averaged 40.3 percent. Standing dead, litter, bare soil, and rock <br />cover averaged 1.07, 37.07, 20.53, and 1.07 percent, respectively. species density <br />averaged 32.5 species per 100 sq. m. <br />Shrub Denser (Table 2) <br />Native shrubs, the only woody life form observed in this unit, averaged 2,897.7 <br />individuals per acre. Bitterbrush accounted for nearly two-fifths of these. Prickly rose <br />( Ro a sa i and mountain snowberry (S~mphoricarpos rotundifolius)were also important. <br />Big sagebrush, Saskatoon.serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), and Wood's rose Rosa <br />woodsii) were relatively minor contributors. <br />• DISCUSSION <br />Cover <br />As can be seen in Table 1, 1996 cover averaged 40.3 percent, approximately two-thirds of <br />which was annual species, as would be expected of such young reclamation areas. Perennial <br />species comprised 36.4 percent of total vegetation cover (Table 5). Of this amount, native <br />perennial species were 32.1 percent of total vegetation cover and introduced perennial species <br />were only 4.3 percent of total vegetation cover. <br />Shrub Density <br />Table 2 presents shrub density data for the reclaimed areas sampled in 1996. As can be seen, <br />average density was 2,900 stems per acre. Some of the randomaly located and oriented <br />• <br />6 <br />