Postfire Succession in Big Sagebrush Steppe With Livestock Grazing |
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| Authors: | Jonathan D. Bates Edward C. Rhodes Kirk W. Davies Robert Sharp |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Range Scientists, US Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, Burns, OR, 97720, USA;2. Research Associate, Center for Natural Resource Information Technology, Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2138, USA;3. Range Management Specialist, US Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office, Burns, OR 97720, USA;1. Plant Physiologist, Northwest Watershed Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture?Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Boise, ID 83712, USA;2. Ecologist, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, USDA-ARS, Burns, OR 97720, USA;3. Statistician, Plains Area, USDA-ARS, College Station, TX 77845, USA;4. Director, Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center, Browns Valley, CA 95918, USA;5. Graduate Student, Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Boise, ID 83702, USA;6. Research Hydraulic Engineer, Northwest Watershed Research Center, USDA-ARS, Boise, ID 83712, USA;1. Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA;;3. Postdoctoral Researcher, and Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA;;4. Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; and;2. Director and Farm Advisor, University of California Intermountain Research and Extension Center, Tulelake, CA 96134, USA.;1. Ecologist, US Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, Miles City, MT 59301, USA;2. Policy Analyst, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Policy, Cheyenne, WY 82002, USA;3. Professor, Animal, Rangeland, and Wildlife Sciences Department, and Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Kleberg Agricultural Building, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA.;1. Lead Scientist, US Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR 97720, USA;2. Research Leader, US Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR 97720, USA;3. Scientists, US Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR 97720, USA |
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| Abstract: | Prescribed fire in rangeland ecosystems is applied for a variety of management objectives, including enhancing productivity of forage species for domestic livestock. In the big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) steppe of the western United States, fire has been a natural and prescribed disturbance, temporarily shifting vegetation from shrub–grass codominance to grass dominance. There is limited information on the impacts of grazing to community dynamics following fire in big sagebrush steppe. This study evaluated cattle grazing impacts over four growing seasons after prescribed fire on Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. Wyomingensis [Beetle & Young] Welsh) steppe in eastern Oregon. Treatments included no grazing on burned and unburned sagebrush steppe, two summer-grazing applications after fire, and two spring-grazing applications after fire. Treatment plots were burned in fall 2002. Grazing trials were applied from 2003 to 2005. Vegetation dynamics in the treatments were evaluated by quantifying herbaceous canopy cover, density, annual yield, and perennial grass seed yield. Seed production was greater in the ungrazed burn treatments than in all burn–grazed treatments; however, these differences did not affect community recovery after fire. Other herbaceous response variables (cover, density, composition, and annual yield), bare ground, and soil surface litter did not differ among grazed and ungrazed burn treatments. All burn treatments (grazed and ungrazed) had greater herbaceous cover, herbaceous standing crop, herbaceous annual yield, and grass seed production than the unburned treatment by the second or third year after fire. The results demonstrated that properly applied livestock grazing after low-severity, prescribed fire will not hinder the recovery of herbaceous plant communities in Wyoming big sagebrush steppe. |
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