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noxious weeds during the production sampling, but none were encountered in the sampling <br />effort. <br />For each area sampled, a minimum of 30 production transects were used for sample adequacy <br />calculations. Following clipping, the harvested plant materials were dried in a drying oven at 100 <br />degrees C for a period of 24 hours. <br />Shrub Density. Starting at each of the 30 transect locations described above for the plant cover <br />and production sampling, the fifty-meter tape was laid out along a predetermined and randomly <br />selected alignment. Woody stem density was determined using the center of the tape as a <br />modified belt transect. The right-hand side of the transect was called Side A and the left-hand <br />side of the tape was called Side B. Data collected from each side were added into a transect <br />value which represents the number of shrubs sampled in the 100 m2 sample plot. These data are <br />reported in the Results Section as to the number of shrubs per 100 mZ as well as the number of <br />shrubs per acre as outlined in the Permit. The revegetation woody plant density success standard <br />is 1,500 stems per acre or 37.06 stems per 100 mZ for all reclaimed areas at the Marr Mine and <br />Kerr ,ripple areas. <br />Species Diversity. The plant cover data collected at each cover sample transect yielded data <br />relative to absolute and relative cover- 't`hese cover data were then converted into percent <br />composition or relative plant cover by species based upon the total amount of plant cover <br />encountered in each sample transect. The relative importance values of plants growing on the <br />reclaimed areas as outlined in the Permit, contain standards as to the number of species growing <br />on the reclaimed areas to ensure that a monoculture of a single plant or a few plants does not <br />dominate the reclaimed areas. <br />As described on page 780-84a of the Kerr Permit, the species diversity standard requires that at <br />the Marr Mine site, the reclaimed plant community shall be composed of at least four dominant <br />species comprising no more than 83 percent of the total relative percent cover and with no single <br />species contributing more than 40 percent of the total relative cover. At least one of the four <br />dominant plant species shall be either a shrub or a forb species. <br />As described on page 780-84b of the Kerr Permit, at the Kerr 't'ipple Area, the species diversity <br />standard is to have at least three dominant species which must account for at least 54 percent and <br />no more than 75 percent of the relative plant cover. At least one of the three dominant species <br />shall be a forb and none of the three dominant plant species shall comprise less than three <br />percent of the relative plant cover. <br />Historical: Data. 'I'o evaluate vegetation trends over time, we compared data previously <br />collected during the 1980 baseline period contained in the Kerr Permit as well as previously <br />collected revegetation monitoring data. The Kerr Permit data is referenced by the Permit table <br />number, while the data collected by Rocky Mountain Reclamation (RMR) in 1996 entitled "1996 <br />Vegetation Sampling for Interim Monitoring and Bond Release" is cited as the RMR 1996 data <br />Revegetation monitoring data collected in 1999 by ESCO and entitled "Report of Findings - <br />Reclamation Monitoring - Kerr Mine - Jackson County, Colorado" was also compared to our <br />4