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• 4.4.2 Establishment and Management of Sampling Areas <br />In the past, Trapper Mine considered using a system of reference areas for testing success of <br />revegetation. The reference area sampling approach has been eliminated in favor of a more <br />appropriate technical standard reclamation success comparison approach. Thus, current <br />management of sampling areas is concerned just with reclaimed areas. These areas are managed <br />and protected from erosion, overgrazing, etc. as part of the Trapper Mine reclamation plan described <br />elsewhere in this permit document. <br />4.4.2.1 Permanent Reference Areas <br />Note: Section 4.4.2.1 remains in the permit document for historical reference only. Trapper's <br />post-mining bond release sampling approach is based on technical standards, not permanent <br />reference areas. <br />In the early summer of 1980, three permanent reference areas per vegetation type were selected and <br />fenced. Selection of the sites was such that the enclosure and its orientation crossed the greatest <br />variability of the type. Site location had to be based on the availability of range site areas free of past, <br />present or future disturbance. It must be emphasized that these sites could be used as an index and <br />• need not be randomly located. The most important criteria is that they sample the range site <br />variability. The 24,000 scale range condition Map M17 provides the approximate position of <br />permanent reference sites. <br />Based on 1980 vegetation data, it is apparent that the major parameters of concern (cover, stem <br />density and species diversity), are generally comparable (Table 4.4-16, 4.4-17, 4.4-18, 4.4-19). <br />The reference sites were chosen such that the variability of the type (mountain shrub or big <br />sagebrush-grass) was sampled. This appears to be the case in most instances if one compares the <br />range of means of each parameter in the permanent reference sites with each associated range site. <br />The exceptions being herbaceous cover in the big sagebrush-grass type (Table 4.4-15), herbaceous <br />plant diversity in the mountain shrub type (Table 4.4-17), and shrub diversity in the mountain shrub <br />type (fable 4.4-19 and 4.4-20). <br />A statistical comparison of the production sample means for permanent reference sites versus <br />premine sample sites shows that they are similar (Table 4.4-21 and 4.4-22). In the analysis, the data <br />from the permanent reference sites were combined. This is necessary since the permanent sites, as <br />a group, were designed to sample the variability of the vegetative type, i.e. mountain shrub or big <br />sagebrush-grass. <br />L J <br />4-129 <br />Revision: <br />Approved: 2/7$ 48--