2010-04-05_REPORT - C1994082 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The 2005 reclaimed areas were also sampled in 2007, which was a year that was much below average in moisture (Figures 6b, 7b and 8b). Total all hit vegetation cover has substantially • increased between the first two sampled years (38.2% to 64.0%). Meanwhile, all hit cover by annual/biennial species declined from 25.0% to 11.7%, and native perennial cool season grasses rose from 8.4% to 18.5%. In the 2005 reclamation, the development of native perennial forbs all hit cover has moved up from 2.9% to 12.2%, and introduced annual grasses declined from 4.1 % to 1.8%. • • Herbaceous Production Observed production values and derivation of the 2008 herbaceous production standard are compiled / documented in the table below: Yoast 2009 Vegetation Type Mean Herbaceous Production* (Ib/ac) % of Affected Area Sagebrush/Snowberrya 631.7 24.0 Mountain Brushy 621.0 48.9 Aspen Woodlanda 1286.5 24.4 Steep Mountain Brushy 712.0 2.7 2002 Reclamation Area 2225.1 -- NA 2005 Reclamation Area 2139.5 NA 2007 Reclamation Area 2132.3 NA a Data collected from Seneca IIW Mine extended reference areas in 2009 Does not include noxious weeds. Herbaceous production performance standard (weighted by percent of affected area) = 788.4 lb/ac. 90 percent of performance standard = 0.9 x 788.4 = 709.6 lb/ac As can be seen, the observed herbaceous production in the 2002, 2005 and 2007 reclaimed areas greatly exceeded the production standard. Due to the "Blitz Clipping" technique used for production sampling this year, that is not separating clipped vegetation by lifeform but instead placing all clipped vegetation from one sampled plot into the same bag, these results are only a rough estimate. As with cover, the young 2007 reclamation was probably short of the performance standard, largely because much of the production was probably (expectably) comprised of annuals that (beyond 10% relative production) were excluded. Annual / biennial 13