The 2008 Joint Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the America Forage and Grassland Council. |
Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:10 AM
Fire Rehabilitation Challenges and Successes in Utah
Bruce A. Roundy, Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University, 275 WIDB, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602
Although large acreages of rangeland are burned and rehabilitated each year, there is limited post-fire rehabilitation research to guide future rehabilitation efforts. Large-scale fire rehabilitation research in Utah has focused on effects of chaining to encourage seeded plant establishment and to discourage weed dominance. One large-scale replicated study also compared native versus predominately introduced seed mixes. These studies have shown that native grass species can be successfully seeded under large-scale operational procedures, and that chaining is more necessary for successful establishment at lower than higher elevations. Adequate precipitation during the seedling establishment year greatly affects seeding success. Small plot research in big sagebrush communities in Nevada and Utah has shown that cheatgrass dominance after fire is greatly limited by maintaining native perennial herbaceous species in the understory. Dependable establishment of shrubs in fire rehabilitation seedings, especially big sagebrush, continues to be a challenge.