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• Improved Pasture / CRP vegetation type in the portion of the study area south of the Seneca II <br />permit area. In order to obtain production numbers that more closely approximated true <br />production, sample points that were heavily grazed were discarded. It was possible in many <br />cases to locate clip plots in small, peripheral areas protected by fences; this was a trade -off <br />between full random statistical design and the need to obtain data reflective of true standing crop. <br />Note that the Improved Pasture / CRP (Yoast Haul Road) reference area is completely fenced <br />and was not grazed by livestock at all. <br />COVER SAMPLING <br />Cover data were collected along 50 m transects using a point- intercept method in which data <br />were recorded as interceptions of a point with either plant species, litter, standing dead plant <br />material, soil, or rock. Plant material produced during 2008 and still standing was tallied by <br />species. Litter was considered to be any organic material that had fallen, or had begun to fall to <br />the soil surface. Standing dead was any dead plant material that was produced in previous years <br />but which was still standing and had not lodged or broken off to become litter. Inorganic materials <br />greater than 1 cm in diameter were considered rock. The cover sampling points were optically <br />• projected using a Cover -Point Optical Point Projection Device developed by ESCO Associates. <br />The 50 m transects were randomly located and oriented in the reclaimed and reference areas. <br />One hundred points were collected along each transect. A pair of points were collected every <br />meter with points sampled on opposite sides of each transect at a distance of 0.5 m from the <br />transect. <br />First hit interceptions were used to calculate absolute top layer foliar cover (see COVER column <br />in data tables) by dividing the number of interceptions for a particular species or ground cover <br />type by the total number of points taken (100). First hit relative vegetation cover was calculated <br />by dividing first hit absolute cover for each species by the total first hit vegetation cover. All -layer <br />absolute cover (COVER -ALL column in data tables) was calculated by dividing all hits (first -hits <br />and additional -hits) for a particular species by the total number of points taken (100). In addition, <br />all -layer relative cover was calculated using all hits for a particular species, divided by the total <br />hits accumulated during sampling of the transect. <br />