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Determination of whether or not a plant could be counted was dependent upon the location of its main <br />stem or root collar where it exited the ground surface with regard to belt limits. A total of 45 belt <br />transects were sampled for the Phase III bond release in both 2007 and 2008. Sample adequacy was <br />determined for informational purposes only. <br />The second method is total enumeration and was used on 16 shrub patches that were previously <br />mapped within the reclaimed community. This method involved total counts of woody plant populations <br />as opposed to estimates of mean densities through statistical sampling. Implementation of the total <br />count technique involved circumscribing the boundaries of the target polygon with hip chain thread while <br />following the previously GPS'd boundary. Once a unit was circumscribed in this manner, a team of two <br />or more persons walking shoulder -to- shoulder traversed the plot enumerating each plant by species. <br />The person farthest inside the line of observers trailed hip chain thread to mark their path to prevent <br />missing or double counting specimens on subsequent passes. The distance between observers was <br />usually 15 feet or less depending on the height of grasses and the presence of low growing taxa such as <br />rose or snowberry. Each internal observer also "zigzaged" as they progressed, occasionally turning to <br />view the area just passed to ensure visual coverage of the entire portion of the plot for which they were <br />responsible. Constant communication among crew members precluded double counting or missing of <br />plants located along the margins of observed paths. <br />2.4 Determination of Current Annual Production <br />At each sample site, current annual production was collected from a 1 /2 m quadrat frame placed <br />one meter and 90 to the right (clockwise) of the ground cover transect to facilitate avoidance of <br />vegetation trampled by investigators during sample site location (see Figure 1). From within each <br />quadrat, all above ground current annual vegetation within the vertical boundaries of the frame were <br />clipped and bagged separately by life form as follows: <br />Perennial Grass <br />Annual Grass <br />Sub- shrubs <br />Perennial Forb <br />Annual Forb <br />Noxious Weeds (if found) <br />All production samples were returned to the lab for drying and weighing. Drying occurred at 105° C until <br />a stable weight was achieved (24 hours). Samples were then re- weighed to the nearest 0.1 gram. <br />Cedar Creek Associates, Inc. <br />Page 13 Colowyo Mine - Bond Release Evaluation <br />Phase III Year 2 <br />