The Need to Improve Mule Deer Populations: HABITAT CONVERSION PART 2 OF 3
By Charlie D. Clements This is the second part of a three-part series focusing on the need to improve mule deer populations. The first series pointed out the historical mule deer populations from very low numbers to record numbers and eventually a continued decline. Mule deer are the only declining big game species in North America, hopefully engaging in this topic will bring about added ideas and approaches to improving mule deer populations not just in Nevada, but throughout the West. In big sagebrush communities, wildfires are the primary stand renewal process. Excessive grazing reduced grasses and brought about the reduction in fine fuels to carry wildfires. The shrubs then became larger, more vigorous, and
established in higher densities. This vegetation change was beneficial to mule deer herds throughout the West. In more than a century, big sagebrush plant communities in the Great Basin have gone through periods of; 1) pristine wildfire frequency with aboriginal burning, 2) promiscuous burning, 3) attempted complete suppression of wildfires, and 4) attempts at prescribed burning and let-burn policies for wildfires. Historically, wildfires in the northern Great Basin experienced wildfire intervals of every 60-110 years and mostly occurred in the late summer after the perennial grasses had flowered and dried out. The accidental introduction of cheatgrass and its’ subsequent invasion onto millions of acres of Great Basin rangelands has
increased this wildfire interval to a reported 5-10 years. Aldo Leopold, in 1949 recognized this problem and how impossible it is going to be to protect wildlife habitat from cheatgrass fueled wildfires. The accidental introduction and subsequent invasion of cheatgrass indeed contributed significantly to the transformation of millions of acres of wildlife habitats throughout the West, especially browsers such as mule deer. Cheatgrass outcompetes native plant seedlings for limited moisture and nutrients resulting in less perennial species recruitment and more cheatgrass that provides a fine-textured early maturing fuel that increases the chance, rate, spread and season of wildfire. With each passing wildfire season more and more critical
Figure 1. Former mule deer winter habitat converted to cheatgrass dominance following re-occurring wildfires.
shrub communities are burned and converted to cheatgrass dominance (Figure 1). When cheatgrass moves in, wildfires that destroy shrubs follow. This scenario has played out all across the Intermountain West, which now is experiencing larger and more frequent wildfires at alarming rates. You can pick numerous large wildfire complexes in the Great Basin that have been significantly destructive to mule deer, such as those wildfires in northeastern Nevada that burned 300,000 acres in 1964, another 778,000 acres (1,171 square miles) between 1999 and 2001 from Battle Mountain to Elko, the Holloway Fire in 2012 that consumed 462,000 acres and the Fire Martin Fire 439,230 acres in 2018 just to name a few. Shrub species simply do not have enough time to recover from large and frequent wildfires which has led to the conversion of millions of acres of big sagebrush/bunchgrass communities to cheatgrass dominance. Ken Gray, retired Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, and Tom Warren, retired Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Operations Manager, both out of Elko, Nevada recognized the threat of wildfires to wildlife habitats in the early 1990s and started aggressive rehabilitation projects in northeastern Nevada. Wildfires were significantly impacting wildlife habitats, specifically mule deer transitional and winter ranges in which the mule deer populations in that region had significantly declined. Taking advantage of mining mitigation funds, contributions from sportsmen groups and consulting with experienced researchers, rehabilitation projects aimed at preventing wildfires while at the same time providing forage hit the ground running. Most rehabilitation seedings at that time included numerous diverse plant species of grasses, shrubs and forbs which resulted in 8-12 species in a single seed mix. The publication, “Restoring Big Game Range in Utah” authored by
18 MARCH 2021
The Progressive Rancher
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