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• wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithit), thickspike wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus fm. dasystachya), <br />and basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus). <br />Total average vegetation cover for first hits was 44.0 percent. For herbaceous vegetation, total <br />average cover for first hits was 42.9 percent. Cover by standing dead, litter, bare soil and rock <br />averaged 1.8, 28.6, 20.0 and 5.5 percent, respectively. Average species density was 27.2 <br />species per 100 sq. m. <br />WOODY PLANT DENSITY -BACKGROUND <br />(Table 2) <br />Total average background woody plant density in 2009 Phase II Bond Release Block was 566.6 <br />stems per acre. Big sagebrush (Seriphidium tridentatum) was the densest at 380.4 stems per <br />acre. Mountain snowbery (Symphoricarpos rotundifolius) contributed 101.2 stems per acre to <br />the total. Six other species of shrub were present, each with densities of fewer than 100 stems <br />per acre. Because of the extremely heterogeneous nature of the presence of shrubs across the <br />Phase II BRB landscape, with shrubless areas commonly encountered in addition to areas with <br />dense shrub presence, achievement of statistical adequacy for the "background" sampling of <br />shrub density is virtually impossible. <br />• Figure 2 graphically presents "background" shrub density averages for the reclaimed area <br />sampled in 2009. As can be seen, the 2009 Phase II BRB reclamation exceeds the overall <br />average density requirement of z 100 stems per acre. Defined shrub concentration areas within <br />the Phase II BRB will not be identified until such time as a bond release test is undertaken. <br />Projecting from the frequency of occurrence within the 2009 random samples, it would appear <br />that shrub density levels exceeding 900 stems per acre (90% of the shrub concentration standard <br />of 1,000 stems per acre) are found in 13% of the area sampled (thus exceeding the standard of <br />5% of the area with ? 1000 stems per acre). <br />Mountain Brush Reference Area <br />(Photographs 31 through 35 ) <br />COVER <br />(Table 3) <br />Native shrubs were the predominant lifeform observed in the Mountain Brush Reference Area, <br />contributing 65.4 percent toward total first-hit vegetation cover. Of this, Gambel's oak (Quercus <br />gambelii) contributed 30.3 percent, Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) contributed <br />• 10