Raunkier's life form system is based on the height of the perennating 

 bud above the ground surface. This classification reflects the exposure 

 of the perennating bud to direct action environmental factors during the 

 most unfavorable season. In order of increasing height of the perennating 

 bud, the life forms used in this paper are therophytes, geophytes (crypt- 

 opnytes), hemicryptophytes, chamaephytes, microphanerophytes and mesophane- 

 rophytes. In general, this ordering reflects the suitability for plant 

 growth of sites associated with community types. Life forms can be used to 

 evaluate ecological dominance, susceptibility to disturbance, and succes- 

 sional status (Arnold 1955). In addition to life forms, structure cate- 

 gories include crustose lichens, foliose lichens, mosses, lianas and epi- 

 phytes, litter, bare soil and bare rock. 



MAPPING 



Vegetation Maps 



Using the definitions of Kuchler (1969), the vegetation maps portray 

 cultural vegetation, primarily actual semi-natural vegetation and actual 

 messicol vegetation. 



Three vegetation maps have been made as part of the baseline vegetation 

 study; a 1:24,000 scale map of the entire reconnaissance area, a 1:12,000 

 scale map of the 75 square mile (194.3 km^) mine study area proposed earlier, 

 and a 1:4800 scale map of the currently proposed 11.5 square mile (29.3 km^) 

 minearea. The classification of vegetation was designed to be sufficiently 

 precise for the large scale mapping. 



The general technique for constructing the three vegetation maps was 

 the same, although the imagery and amount of ground truth for mapping varied. 

 First, the location of the vegetation reconnaissance samples was indicated on 

 the imagery being used for mapping. In some cases it was possible to asso- 

 ciate a certain imagery signature with a certain community type and map on 

 that basis. In cases where the signature was not obvious or did not reliably 

 indicate a specific community type and ground truth v/as absent, community 

 type site factor descriptions were used to infer which community types would 

 most likely occur in the area under examination. 



The mapping categories used were community types identified in this 

 report and, where vegetation does not predominate, other physical features 

 e.g. water, cropland, or badland. More than one mapping category often ap- 

 pears in a single mapping unit. This seems to be unavoidable except in a 

 very simple vegetation or at a very large scale. 



The maps were drawn on overlays to aerial photographs, corrected, and 

 transferred to, in most cases topographic base maps. In areas where ade- 

 quate base maps were unavailable, 1:25,000 scale aerial photographs served 

 as base maps. In the case of tiie 1:4800 vegetation map, the aerial photo- 

 graphs were enlarged to base scale and the topographic map and ground truth 

 were simultaneously overlayed on the air photos. 



17 



