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u <br />• <br />made certain recommendations (Section 6.0) to mitigate this disparity during bond release <br />evaluations. <br />Review of Table E5-6 and Chart E5-1 indicates that the average vegetation cover of the <br />Mountain Shrub reference area was 65.2%. Bare ground exposure and rock provided an average <br />of 5.95% and 0.6% of the ground cover, respectively, while litter covered a modest 28.25%. <br />The dominant plant species were Gambel oak, serviceberry, and mountain snowberry with <br />17.2%, 8.75% and 7.45% of the ground cover, respectively. Perennial plants contributed 99% <br />of the total plant cover (65.1% average cover) while annual species contributed 1% of the <br />composition. Perusal of Table E5-8 indicates that a total of 9 perennial species contributed at <br />least 3% relative cover or composition. Two of these species were grasses, four taxa were forbs <br />and three were shrubs. <br />Review of Table E5-9 and Chart E5-3 indicates that the average herbaceous production of <br />this area in 2006 was 418 pounds per acre, oven-dry weight. Ninety-nine percent (414.1 pounds <br />per acre) of the total herbaceous production is attributable to perennials, with grasses <br />contributing 176 Ibs/acre and forbs 238.1 Ibs/acre. One percent (3.9 pounds per acre) of the <br />total production is attributable to annuals (mostly forbs). <br />3.2.3 Study Area -Reference Area Comparability <br />Review of Table E5-1 indicates that neither ground cover nor production for the Mountain <br />Shrub baseline study area is statistically comparable to the values obtained from the Mountain <br />Shrub reference area. Total cover and total production do not statistically °pass" comparability. <br />This circumstance is due largely to the disparity between the two areas with regard to cover and <br />production as a result of increased precipitation within the substantially higher (in elevation) <br />reference area. <br />These comparisons of the "tabular" versus "calculated" t-statistics on Table E5-1 indicate <br />"pass" or "fail" given the Students t-test indicated by the guidelines. A two-sided t-test for two <br />independent samples was considered appropriate and the decision rules for this test were: <br />If t* >_ t ~o.9s,ni+nz-2) ,conclude that the two areas are unequal, and <br />If t* < t ~o.es,ni+n2-2)i conclude that the two areas are equal (for a = 0.05). <br />The tabular tvalues for an a = 0.05 and n-2 degrees of freedom (d.f.) and calculation of the <br />• <br />comparison t* statistic for comparison are as follows: <br />~~~~ cC~~~ Ass®cII~~~, INC. <br />12 Exhibit 5 -Vegetation Resources <br />