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Mature mountain shrub transplants will be used to increase and speed up shrub <br />reestablishment and to provide cover for big game animals during the early stages <br />of revegetation. Mature shrubs will be transplanted into odd-shaped clumps and <br />strips to enhance "edge" effect. A few low growing or half shrubs will be seeded <br />between the clumps of mature shrubs to provide additional browse and cover. <br />Thomas et al. (1976) working with elk in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Wash- <br />ington found that a ratio of about 40 percent cover to 60 percent openings <br />insured maximum use of the maximum area. They defined hiding cover as vegetation <br />capable of hiding 90 percent of an elk from view of a person 200 feet away. <br />Thermal cover was also found to be necessary in both winter and summer to help <br />animals maintain body temperatures within rather narrow tolerable limits. The <br />use of mature shrub transplants will aid in establishing these cover requirements <br />on revegetated areas. Where the mountain shrub vegetation type occurs prior to <br />mining, mature shrub transplants will be placed in areas where it is probable <br />that snow accumulation during winter months will provide the extra moisture <br />needed for shrub growth. Distance between shrub clumps or strips will generally <br />not exceed 1,300 feet and the clumps or strips will be about 1.6 acres in size. <br />Cam, Sagebrush transplants will not be attempted as seeding from adjacent natural seed <br />sources and volunteer seedlings from the topsoil Mill provide an adequate repre- <br />sentation of this species. <br />These revegetation practices will provide more suitable big game habitat with <br />possibly higher forage yields in many areas than what presently exists. . The <br />dense, over-mature stand of sagebrush and mountain shrub will be eliminated as <br />topsoil stripping advances ahead of mining. Reclaimed spoils will be revegetated <br />vith important and useful native species of grasses, forbs, and occasionally <br />shrubs which will enhance the post mining land use. Shrub densities will be <br />reduced and over-mature shrubs replaced with clumps of shrubs, producing more <br />available browse for big game species. <br />Revegetated areas will not be fenced to exclude big game animals. Fences are <br />considered undesirable because they restrict animal movement and often cause mor- <br />talities when animals get hung up trying to jump over them. During the critical <br />seedling and shrub establishment period, big game use must be discouraged or ade- <br />quately dispersed or young plants may be severely over-used and die. The offsite <br />4-157 SEP 21982