RANGELAND HEALTH: Perspectives on Landscapes By Dan Harmon and Dave Voth
The Society for Range Management-Nevada Section held its annual summer meeting on July 17, 2020. Like the rest of the world we were adapting to Covid-19 concerns and the meeting was held virtually via Zoom. We incorporated this new-world method of meeting because of our concerns for our members and the community and embraced making the best of a virtual meeting. We had already lined up a great group of presenters before the pandemic and luckily, they were more than willing to present via Zoom. While we missed the opportunity to be in the field seeing firsthand the concepts of each presentation, the expertise of the presenters and their stockpile of field photographs allowed for many realworld examples.
The theme of this year’s meeting was “Rangeland Health: Perspectives on Landscapes.” The field of range management is a multifaceted discipline encompassing many aspects of land use. From a wildlife manager to a cattle operator to the recreational enthusiast, we all share common core beliefs of rangeland health, yet each of us may interpret differently to judge the health of the range on specific values. While we may have a different perspective on the landscape based on our specific working fields, we are all connected by that landscape. The first presenter was Keith Barker, fire ecologist with the Carson City District Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Keith conducts many projects in his district and his presentation was titled “Implementing Multiyear Large-Scale Rehabilitation Projects.” Keith began by describing the various ways the rangeland ecosystem undergoes detrimental large-scale changes. He discussed rapid changes that occur from a fire to gradual changes that occur from juniper invasion. He then described some of the methods he uses to address these changes. Some methods can be used proactively, like controlling juniper expansion through thinning operations or herbicide use to decrease annual grass fuels and creating firebreaks, or reactively, such as seeding efforts following wildfire.
initiated, but that would soon change. In July 2017, the Long Valley Fire burned a large portion of the project area. This changed most treatments from being proactive to reactive, but many of the tools remained the same. Because of the high density of cheatgrass pre-fire and likely increase post-fire, the use of the pre-emergent soilactive herbicide, Imazapic, was applied and fallowed for 1-year prior to seeding, in an effort to decrease cheatgrass competition and increase seeded species success. As often occurs with BLM seeding efforts in northern Nevada, introduced species like Siberian wheatgrass and ‘Immigrant’ forage kochia were limited to their use. Introduced species seed mixes were seeded as firebreaks extending a limited distance from roads, while native seed mixes covered larger areas, often upslope with hopes the increase in elevation would provide increased seeding success. This long term effort is an ongoing project and we look forward to hearing about the results in the future.
Nonnative Plant Invasions”? Jeanne first explained what a plant specie’s fundamental niche and realized niche are and how they affect nonnative plant invasions. A species fundamental niche is determined by the environment, climate, topography and soil type. The realized niche is determined by the species composition of the existing plant community. These two, combined, can determine the likelihood of nonnative invasion. Dr. Chambers then described how our sagebrush communities exist over a wide range of environmental gradients, giving them various degrees of resistance to invasions of nonnatives such as cheatgrass (Figure 1).
Wyoming big sagebrush habitats, which are at lower elevations and exhibit warmer and dryer conditions, therefore support lower densities of perennial grasses and forbs and are less resistant to cheatgrass invasion. Mountain big sagebrush sites which are higher elevation and experience cooler and wetter conditions and thus Keith finished his presentation by showing some photos support higher densities of perennial grasses and forbs, of a recent fire south of Carson City, the Numbers Fire. are more resistant to cheatgrass invasion. To further He showed how a firebreak treatment area, which had simplify, higher densities of perennial grass equal greater removed juniper fuels, helped stop the fire. This was a resistance to cheatgrass invasion. This is the framework great example of proactive management being effective at for fuel breaks that Keith Barker discussed, where the aim stopping fires with fuel breaks. is to establish a high density of perennial grass to keep The next presenter was Dr. Jeanne Chambers, senior out cheatgrass and associated fuels that would carry a fire. scientist with the USDA Forest Service. Her presentation Jeanne described mechanisms that perennial grasses use was titled “What Makes Plant Communities Resistant to to resist cheatgrass invasion. FIGURE 1. Brooks & Chambers et al 2016
Keith discussed the recent Virginia Range project north of Reno, Nevada. Approved February 2017, the project covered approximately 190,000 acres. Its main objective was to protect habitats and infrastructure by treatments to modify fire behavior. The BLM partnered with the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Geological Service (USGS), Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW), USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and other groups to determine the best treatments to achieve these goals. Treatments would include juniper removal, prescribed fire, seeding, and herbicide use. As with many projects in critical habitats, the area had not yet burned in February 2017 when the project was 16 JANUARY 2021
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