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410-Logic, Inc. -.1ww.bio-geo.com <br />2.2 Sampling Procedures <br />A field crew of three botanists will conduct fieldwork from approximately June 1 to June 10, <br />2009. 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 used 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 land 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 by clipping and weighing current year above-ground herbaceous <br />growth within a square 0.25 m` frame. Clippings will be segregated into categories of perennial <br />grass, annual grass, perennial forb, annual forb, and noxious weed, and placed in separate <br />labeled paper bags. Bags will be oven-dried 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, sample size will be determined as specified in Section 2.3, <br />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 />arbitrary numbers assigned to random points <br />Definitions <br />Cover. CDRMS regulations allow cover to be defined as either canopy or basal cover of living <br />herbaceous or herbaceous and woody vegetation. For this study we use canopy cover of living <br />herbaceous and woody vegetation. For cover measurements on reclaimed lands, CDRMS <br />regulations allow the inclusion of annual grasses and forbs up to 10% of relative cover, and <br />cover of annuals over 10% of relative cover is allowed up to the amount of relative cover of <br />annuals measured at the reference area. <br />Production. CDRMS regulations define production (on pasture, rangeland, and for forage <br />crops such as hay) as current year above-ground biomass of herbaceous vegetation. <br />I