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Mature conifers generally were 20-30 ft tall . Although visually
<br /> dominant, conifers contributed only 2.5 percent cover , owing to the patchiness
<br /> of their distribution.
<br /> Of the ten shrubs or subsnrubs observed it Spruce/Fir Parkland
<br /> areas, the overwhelmingly dominant species was Thimbleberry ?uvr4 r�a2vi lv^�zc�,
<br /> which frequently occurred in stands so dense and extensive that it essentially
<br /> formed a ground cover. Moreover, Thimbleberry provided 11.8 percent cover ,
<br /> compared to 15.3 percent for all shrubs. The other two species providing
<br /> significant cover ( i .e. , greater than 1.0 percent ) were Mountain Snowberry
<br /> and Myrt I e B 1 u e b e r r y Vaccizzi ,7zyit,iZ cam.
<br /> Dominant g^raminoids were Elk Sedge, Mountain Brome Ce�zato<: iva
<br /> ma/z ina.ta and Blue Wi I drye, but the nodding bromes 3-zomvp4ii j tiarzati pe4 and
<br /> S. pvz.i.zte� and the b I uegrasses ?oa a..p&za and P. azcti.ca were also significant .
<br /> Total graminoia cover was 15 percent .
<br /> Forbs provided 36 percent cover, spread among a large number of
<br /> species. Prevalent forbs were Wi I d Strawberry Fza zzia vt' zgiiziana, Suba I p i ne
<br /> Daisy Cn i aercorz pe�zeg zirz.L4, Soft C i n q u e f o i l ?o.t entiiiLia gAaci. var. outic^ie,/bz.imcz,
<br /> Wh i tef lower Peav i ne, Porter Lovage, Smooth Daisy (S�z.iaerzvrz g,Laje.,l j, Showy
<br /> Daisy Cnige/zvrz �specio4uj, Butterweed, Northern Bedstraw Scuium Sozea,Ce,
<br /> Go I den-eye rleiiome z,iA ,vu4l tz4)_v,za, Ray I ess Arn i ca AVLZca pa7vey L, Ta I I Da i sy
<br /> &zi_geizvrz e,.ativ2, and the water I eaf Ngdreophcy,(, , 4endle/z.i.. At a few cover
<br /> sample locations, the open meadows between conifer islands showed signs of
<br /> extensive disturbance by pocket gophers and historic grazing by domestic
<br /> livestock. These areas contained a number of weedy increaser species, such
<br /> as Yarrow ,4c_,Z lea .id2u�v�ja, Fireweed C hcmeiLion. anc�tii 4vtiium, B i g f lower G i I i a
<br /> Cv.iIomia Common Dandelion iazaxacz�m o,f4i..cincitz, Tansy "Mustard
<br /> De jcu,zai,ua zi.c'azd jon ii., St i ckseed LappuLa zedow4hii, Ye I low Sa I s i f y
<br /> i,7a9opvevrZ dj4�iuj, and the valerians Vcierzian¢ edu &j and V. caoitcta.
<br /> Detailed cover data for Spruce/Fir Parkland are presented in
<br /> Table 7. Figure 6 illustrates a typical sample area.
<br /> Production in this community was dominated by Elk Sedge t8.5 a/m`') ,
<br /> Porter Lovage (7.6 0/m2) , Blue Wi ! drye (6.3 g/m2) , Canada Reedarass CaZama.q,�ZU4tiij
<br /> canaden4.ij (3.7 g/mz.) , and Wild Strawberry (3.6 g/m`) . Total production
<br /> (56.9 g/m2) was divided almost evenly between araminoias and forbs. Produc-
<br /> tion data are provided in Tao !e B.
<br /> Shrubs were present in densities of 31,984/ha. Two low species,
<br /> Myrtle Slueoerry ana Thimbieberry, proviaea roughly 60 percent and 27 percenr
<br /> of this total , respectively. The average heiahT for all shrubs Yves about
<br /> 54 cm. Trees included a variety of conifers and snrupoy ceciduous species.
<br /> Soth Enoelmann Spruce and Subalpine Fir were present in 92 percenr of the
<br /> samples. Quaking aspen was significantly less common. Total tree density for
<br /> affected areas averaged 430 /ha. '.Nocey plant cata for this community type are
<br /> shown in Table 9.
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