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11 <br />• <br />• <br />Herbaceous production will be assessed within one (1.0) square m plots located at the <br />randomly placed sample points. Sampling will occur approximately early to mid -July each <br />season in accordance with the proposed vegetation sampling and monitoring schedule. <br />Cattle grazing on the reclaimed area and associated reference area will be deferred until <br />after the clip sampling is complete. At each sample plot, a circular plot (hoop) enclosing <br />one (1.0) square m will be placed on the ground and anchored. Herbaceous plant species <br />present will be clipped as closely to the ground as possible and placed separately into <br />labeled paper bags. Clipped plants will be grouped into the following life forms and <br />bagged: <br />- Native Annual / Biennial Forbs <br />- Native Annual Grasses <br />- Native Perennial Forbs <br />- Native Perennial Graminoids <br />- Noxious Introduced Perennial Forbs <br />- Introduced Annual / Biennial Forbs <br />- Introduced Annual Grasses <br />- Introduced Perennial Forbs <br />- Introduced Perennial Graminoids <br />- Noxious Introduced Annual / Biennial Forbs <br />Trees, full shrubs, subshrubs, cacti, lichens, mosses, algae, and agavoid subshrubs (Yucca <br />spp.) will not be clipped. Clipped materials will be oven -dried at 105 degrees Celsius and <br />weighed to the nearest 0.1 gram (gm). <br />Reclaimed area herbaceous production will be equal to or greater than 90 percent of the <br />average herbaceous production from the sagebrush grassland reference areas. <br />Compilation of a Plant Species List - Cumulative plant species lists for the reclaimed area <br />and the reference areas will be separately compiled from observations during any sampling <br />work. <br />Species Diversity (Density) - Species presence will be noted within the area one m to either <br />side of the transect line (50m x 2m = 100 ms squared). The presence data along with <br />point - intercept data will be used to produce values for species density expressed on a per <br />100 square m basis. <br />Reclamation Sample Adequacy Assessment and Hypothesis Testing - Formal (statistical) <br />hypothesis testing will be undertaken for the assessment of the reclaimed areas and in the <br />reference area. Sample adequacy for cover within the reclamation area will be evaluated <br />based on all hit herbaceous cover of vascular plants using the following expression: <br />t <br />n = (dx� <br />Where: <br />n = Minimum Reclaimed Area Sample Size <br />s = Sample variance (n -1 degrees of freedom) <br />d = Precision (0.10 for cover and production; 0.15 for woody plant density) <br />x = Sample arithmetic mean <br />PR -02 <br />2.05.4 -4 <br />06110 <br />