Restoration
View abstracts.
These abstracts of recent papers on range management in the West were prepared by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Reno, NV.
Read research brief.
This research brief reports that applying salvaged biocrust material to severely disturbed soil rapidly reestablished favorable biocrust characteristics and stabilized soil more than doing nothing. This is likely a useful restoration strategy when unavoidable soil disturbances are planned and there are opportunities to salvage material.
View article.
This study investigated the effects of container volume and fertilization on the performance of nursery-grown Wyoming big sagebrush seedlings following outplanting. Researchers found that container volume may influence seedling morphology and optimize establishment, while field fertilization, especially during spring outplanting when planting sites have low moisture availability, may hinder first-year survival.
View article.
In this Live Science article, Francis Kilkenny, lead of Great Basin Native Plant Project (GBNPP), shares information about the GBNPP and how it continues to support more successful rangeland restoration.
Lessons learned, so far include:
- Climate is more important than geography when predicting how well seeds will grow and establish themselves. Seeds don’t care where their parents lived if the temperature suits them and if they get the right amount of sunshine and precipitation.
- Timing of seed planting makes a big difference. Year to year, even week to week, variation in weather patterns can affect the restoration success of a burned site.
- Method of planting matters. To achieve the best results, scientists recommend tamping seeds into the ground to ensure they have good contact with the soil, or in some cases, planting a species in the form of “plugs.”
- Long-term monitoring after planting is critical to determine the effectiveness of different seed mixes and restoration techniques.
- Keeping livestock off seeded rangeland for at least three years improves a restoration effort’s likelihood of success.
View handbook.
This handbook is intended to assist decision makers in determining landscape objectives, to identify and prioritize landscape areas where sites for priority restoration projects might be located, and to aid in ultimately selecting restoration sites guided by criteria used to define the landscape objectives. The landscape restoration decision tool is structured in five sections that should be addressed sequentially. Each section has a primary question or statement followed by related questions and statements to assist the user in addressing the primary question or statement.
View bibliography.
This bibliography reflects the growing interest in assisted migration, the intentional movement of plant materials in response to climate change, and provides a central foundation for collaboration in generating research questions, conducting studies, transferring and acquiring data, expanding studies to key species and geographic regions, and guiding native plant transfer in changing climates. It should inform management as the mismatch in rates between climate change and plant migration and adaptation pose significant challenges for natural resource managers, especially when scientific information often lags behind the demand for management actions.
View infographic.
This infographic developed by SageSTEP.org describes sagebrush steppe restoration prioritization and methods to benefit sage-grouse habitat.
View handbook.
This handbook discusses concepts surrounding landscape and restoration ecology of sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse that habitat managers and restoration practitioners need to know to make informed decisions regarding where and how to restore specific areas, by providing:
- Descriptions of plant dynamics of sagebrush steppe ecosystems and their responses to major disturbances, fire, and defoliation.
- Introductions of the concepts of ecosystem resilience to disturbances and resistance to invasions of annual grasses within sagebrush steppe.
- Introductions to soils and ecological site information will provide insights into the specific plants that can be restored in a location.
- Descriptions of concepts of landscape ecology that aid decisions regarding habitat restoration.
- Overviews of restoration techniques for sage-grouse habitat restoration.
- Descriptions of the critical nature of monitoring for adaptive management of sagebrush steppe restoration at landscape- and project-specific levels.
View research brief.
This study shows that conifer removal for sage-grouse also benefits sagebrush-dependent songbirds. In the Warner Mountains of southern Oregon, Brewer’s sparrow abundance increased by +55% and green-tailed towhee jumped +81% following cuts. Annual increases each year post tree removal suggest that songbird use may increase even more with time. Abundances of species less dependent on shrublands including mountain bluebird and rock wren were unaffected by treatments.
View abstracts.
These abstracts of recent papers on rangeland management in the West were prepared by Charlie Clements, Rangeland Scientist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Reno, NV.