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Sage-Grouse Habitat Restoration Symposium Proceedings

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Sage-Grouse Habitat Restoration Symposium Proceedings Strategies to Enhance Plant Structure and Diversity in Crested Wheatgrass Seedings Mike Pellant Cindy R. Lysne Abstract—Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum sensu amplo wildrye [Psathyrostachys juncea]), prior to reintroducing [L.] Gaertn.) is an introduced, caespitose grass that has been seeded plant diversity. Crested wheatgrass and its close relatives on millions of acres of Western rangelands. In some areas, crested were introduced from Eurasia and selected for land rehabili- wheatgrass seedings overlap with critical sage-grouse (Centrocercus tation in the Central and Western United States. The areas urophasianus; C. minimus) habitat, raising the question of how where crested wheatgrass has been extensively used in the plant diversity might be restored in these closed plant communities. Western United States overlap closely with historic sage- A three-step process is described to reduce crested wheatgrass grouse distribution in the low elevation rangelands where competition, introduce desired species, and manage to maintain annual precipitation ranges from 8 to 12 inches annually desired species for use long term. Crested wheatgrass is a strong (USDA NRCS 2004). The first part of this paper will include competitor with other species and a prolific seed producer, which a review of the historical use, competitive characteristics, hinders treatments to reduce its influence and improve conditions and concerns regarding the use of crested wheatgrass, espe- for establishment of desirable seeded species. Herbicides, burning, cially with regard to sage-grouse habitat. The remainder of mechanical treatments, livestock grazing, droughts, and combina- this paper will emphasize potential treatments to reduce tions of these are effective to varying degrees in reducing crested crested wheatgrass competition, where acceptable func- wheatgrass competition. Once crested wheatgrass competition is tional or structural vegetation components required by sage- reduced, either seed or seedlings can be used to increase diversity in grouse are not present, prior to increasing the diversity of these seedings. Post-establishment management and monitoring desirable herbs and shrubs. are essential components of the strategy to maintain plant diversity into the future. Crested Wheatgrass: Introduction, Uses, and Issues in Western Introduction ____________________ Ecosystems ____________________ Use of introduced species invokes a range of emotions from The first collections of crested wheatgrass were made in unequivocal support to outright opposition and has even been 1897 to 1989 and again in 1906 from the dry steppes of linked to fascism and racism (Simberloff 2003). In the West- Eastern Russia (Dillman 1946; Rogler and Lorenz 1983). ern United States, the planting of introduced perennial These collections were classified as crested wheatgrass and wheatgrasses for rangeland rehabilitation has and continues desert wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum) and were dis- to be practiced after disturbances such as wildfires, on crop- tributed to 15 experiment stations throughout the West. land taken out of production, and to increase forage produc- Minimal use of these introduced grasses occurred until the tion for livestock. Given the focus of this symposium on the 1930s when a combination of cheap labor (for example, restoration of habitat for sage-grouse, using crested wheat- Civilian Conservation Corps), the “dust bowl” in the Midwest, grass (Agropyron cristatum sensu amplo [L.] Gaertn.) to and the need to reestablish perennial vegetation on aban- meet certain land-use objectives must be evaluated relative doned farmlands prompted their increased use. Crested wheat- to the millions of acres already planted to these grasses and grass, primarily the caespitose bunchgrasses, were used ex- their continued use in rangeland rehabilitation projects. tensively to revegetate abandoned croplands that were subject This paper will focus on a review of the characteristics, to wind erosion in the Northern Great Plains (Holechek use, and control techniques for crested wheatgrass and 1981; Young and Evans 1986). The first planting of crested other closely related introduced, caespitose bunchgrasses wheatgrass in the Intermountain area occurred in eastern (Siberian wheatgrass [Agropyron fragile], and Russian Idaho in 1932 (Hull and Klomp 1966). As the need for plants to reclaim abandoned cropland increased, the production of seed of crested wheatgrass also increased (Sharp 1986). Mike Pellant is Coordinator, Great Basin Restoration Initiative, Nevada With greater demands for red meat production from West- State Office, Bureau of Land Management, Boise ID 83709, U.S.A.; e-mail: ern rangelands during World War II, Congress allocated [email protected]. Cindy R. Lysne is Environmental Specialist, Power funds to convert unproductive sagebrush rangelands to more Engineers, Inc., Boise, ID 83707; e-mail: [email protected] In: Shaw, Nancy L.; Pellant, Mike; Monsen, Stephen B., comps. 2005. Sage- productive introduced grasslands (Young and McKenzie grouse habitat restoration symposium proceedings; 2001 June 4–7; Boise, ID. 1982). Researchers for the Forest Service developed a series of Proceedings RMRS-P-38. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. bulletins on rangeland seeding, emphasizing the use of USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-38. 2005 81 Pellant and Lysne Strategies to Enhance Plant Structure and Diversity in Crested Wheatgrass Seedings crested wheatgrass and other introduced wheatgrasses in to increase plant diversity in seedings dominated by this Idaho (Hull and Pearse 1943), Nevada (Robertson and Pearse species. The same features that make crested wheatgrass 1943), and Utah (Plummer and others 1943). appealing to land managers (for example, provide soil stabil- Following World War II, the pace of rehabilitation accel- ity and compete with and control invasive species) can also erated again during the 1950s and early 1960s when mil- result in community dominance of this species, displace- lions of acres of Central and Western rangelands were ment of native species, and reduced plant diversity (Broersma seeded to crested wheatgrass. The objectives of these seedings and others 2000; D’Antonio and Vitousek 1992; Marlette included increasing forage for livestock, weed control, wa- and Anderson 1986; Roundy and others 1997). Although tershed stabilization, and reducing wildfire hazards. The some studies reported that crested wheatgrass is not “mo- use of crested wheatgrass to biologically suppress halogeton bile” and does not deter the reestablishment of native spe- (Halogeton glomeratus), a nonnative poisonous forb, was cies (Broersma and others 2000; Krzic and others 2000), funded by Congress in 1952 and ultimately paid for a major several other studies have shown that established stands portion of crested wheatgrass seedings in Nevada and other have spread beyond the original seeded area (Hull and Great Basin States (Young and Evans 1986). Klomp 1966; Marlette and Anderson 1986). Other studies The rehabilitation of degraded rangelands with crested have shown that crested wheatgrass seedings resulted in wheatgrass was also accelerated by the development of near monospecific stands (Hull and Klomp 1966; Looman equipment to control competitive plants and distribute seed and Heinrichs 1973; Schuman and others 1982). effectively across a wide range of edaphic conditions. In There are several characteristics of crested wheatgrass particular, the development of the rangeland drill in the that contribute to its competitiveness with both invasive early 1950s hastened the ability of land managers to seed species and native vegetation. At the seedling stage, crested large acreages to crested wheatgrass, while the brushland wheatgrass has an advantage over some native plants, due plow provided managers with a tool for sagebrush removal in part to its ability to efficiently capture nutrients and prior to seeding (Young and McKenzie 1982). By the early water (Bakker and Wilson 2001; Schuman and others 1982). 1970s, referred to by Young and Evans (1986) as the “golden Established crested wheatgrass plants were more efficient age” of seeding crested wheatgrass, an estimated 12.4 mil- at securing phosphorus than native bluebunch wheatgrass lion acres were seeded to this species (Dewey and Asay (Pseudoroegneria spicatum) when both species were grown 1975). A recent report (USDI 2001) on the condition of public in association with big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the (Caldwell and others 1985). Big sagebrush was also nega- Western United States indicates that approximately 5 tively affected by the ability of crested wheatgrass to rapidly million acres of rangelands have been seeded (USDI 2001), extract soil water during the same period that sagebrush the majority of which we estimate included crested wheat- requires this resource (Cook and Lewis 1963; Eissenstat and grass in the seed mixture. However, since this information Caldwell 1988; Sturges 1977). Other studies have shown the is based in large part on inventory information collected in competitive advantage of crested wheatgrass during the the mid-1970s, the acreage of public lands seeded in part initial stages of plant establishment for Wyoming big sage- with crested wheatgrass is expected to exceed this figure. brush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) and ante- The use of crested wheatgrass has come
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