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www.bio-geo.com <br />Permit 1 reclaimed lands and is the same reference area used in the 2007 analysis (Figure <br />5). <br />5. Dryland Pasture Reclaimed, Phase 3 Second Year (23.8 acres). This area is in its second <br />year of eligibility for Phase 3 vegetation measurement and vegetation cover and production <br />were measured in this area in 2007 (Figure 4). <br />2.2 Sampling Procedures <br />A field crew of three botanists will conduct fieldwork from approximately June 2 to June 20, <br />2008. For the study areas described above, we will create a polygon shapefile in ESRI ArcMap <br />(a GIS computer application) defining the study area boundary, then use a GIS application to <br />generate at least 50 random point locations in each study area. We will upload the sample <br />points into Garmin GPS units (average accuracy 15 feet) and use the GPS units to navigate to <br />sample points in the field. A few sample points may be rejected in the field if they are in areas <br />at field margins not typical of the study area being measured, for example a mowed road berm. <br />Cover will be measured by a point intercept method. From random sample points, a 100 foot <br />tape will be stretched at a bearing of magnetic north (if a bearing causes the tape to cross the <br />study area boundary, then bearings of east, south, or west will be substituted, in that order). At <br />10 foot intervals along the tape beginning at 10 feet, a point frame will be positioned <br />perpendicular to the tape and extended to the left. The point frame consists of a metal bar with <br />tripod legs, positioned parallel to the ground about 1 meter high. A sliding laser light pointer is <br />positioned at each of 10 marked points along the bar spaced 10 cm apart. At each point the <br />observers will record the object that first intersects the downward-pointed laser light (plant <br />species, litter, rock, or bare ground). Ten cover readings at each of 10 intervals along the <br />transect will yield 100 cover readings per transect, which will be tallied and the total number of <br />hits per species or object will be equal to the percent cover estimate for that transect. <br />Production will be measured b? clipping and weighing current year above-ground herbaceous <br />growth within a square 0.25 m frame (irrigated pasture) or a rectangular 2 m2 frame (dryland <br />pasture). Clippings will be segregated into categories of perennial grass, annual grass, <br />perennial forb, annual forb, and noxious weed, and placed in separate labeled paper bags. <br />Bags will be oven-dried at 90 degrees C to a constant weight, and then the contents will be <br />weighed on a calibrated electronic balance to the nearest 0.1 gram. <br />For both cover and production, samples will be taken in each study area ft either sample <br />reached, depending on the statistical methods to be used. Sample adequacy will be calculated <br />periodically in the field during sampling by entering cover data and fresh weight production data <br />into a field laptop computer. After production samples are dried, sample adequacy will be <br />recalculated based on dry weights. A simple random sampling design will be employed for both <br />reference areas and the reclaimed dryland pasture, and samples will be taken in the order of the <br />arbitrary numbers assigned to random points. ?--- <br />Irrigated Reclaim I first Year and Second Year areas will be sampled in a single <br />hemp?ing effort using an area-weighted stratified random sampling method, in which