Part one of this report summarizes nearly two years of field and analytic work involving the University of Wyoming Rage management Division and the Department of Energy Laramie Energy Technology Center. The project was undertaken in order to design and develop a sampling procedure to meet requirements of regulatory agencies for monitoring reclamation efforts. An intrinsic portion of this procedure is the gathering of baseline data from native communities. This involves the development of a vegetation map and a sampling procedure to thoroughly inventory existing native vegetation. An additional phase of this research involves the inventory of disturbed areas to gain a better understanding of succession processes in the area. The disturbed sites involving in the study are highly variable in terms of the degree of disturbance, the nature of existing edaphic properties, the composition of surrounding communities and in terms of the nature of reclamation efforts already undertaken. Part II was designed to utilize data collected during the baseline study to detect a moisture gradient in desert shrub communities by using principles of ordination. This portion of the final report is submitted as a Ph.D. dissertation written by Calvin E. Lundberg in fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy submitted to the Division of Range Management and the Graduate School of the University of Wyoming.