Abstracts of Field Tour Speakers

Bob Abbey

Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project and the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition’s Role in the Project

Members of the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition are contributing time and demonstrating leadership in helping citizens become better informed about their public lands and the actions that are required to assure their long term sustainability.  The work being done on the public lands in eastern Nevada will help to restore the productivity and diversity of native rangelands.

Kara Boyden

SMALL MAMMAL RESPONSE TO PINYON-JUNIPER ENCROACHMENT IN EASTERN NEVADA

Single-leaf Pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osterosperma) trees have been increasing in distribution and density over the past 150 years.  Pinyon-juniper expansion into sagebrush dominated communities is largely attributed to fire suppression and responsible for sagebrush habitat losses in eastern Nevada.  Small mammals are often used as indicators of plant community changes.  Project objectives are: 1) determine plant community characteristics (density and cover) in each of 3 pinyon-juniper encroachment phases within Wyoming big sagebrush sites; and 2) determine small mammal responses to encroachment dynamics.  Three replications of each encroachment phase (no encroachment, transition, and encroached) were used to sample small mammal populations.  Line intercept and density quadrats were used to determine density of herbaceous, shrub, and pinyon-juniper vegetation in each treatment.  A 252 Sherman live-trap was used 3 consecutive nights to determine small mammal population characteristics in each treatment replicate.  Trapping was conducted between June 20 - July 18, 2002.  Preliminary results indicated mean captures per treatment were 5 (±.7) no encroachment, 10 (±3.7) transition, and 7 (±5.4) encroached.  Mean small mammal biomass by treatment was 0.014 kg ha-1 (±0.002) no encroachment, 0.018 kg ha-1 (±0.001) transition, and 0.021 kg ha-1 (±.002) encroachment.  Dominant captured species were Great Basin pocket mouse (Perognathus parvus) no encroachment (44%), Pale kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops pallidus) and Longtail pocket mouse (Perognathus longimembris) transition (21%), and Great Basin pocket mouse encroached (22%).  Transition treatment had the greatest species richness compared to no encroachment and encroached (9,5, and 8 respectively).

Land management policies in desert grasslands have been predominantly guided by short-term, small-scale studies. In contrast, replicated landscape-level research in the Arizona/New Mexico borderlands indicate that without conducting research at scales relevant to management, the results are frequently irrelevant or misleading. Recent landscape change is shown to not just be the result of over-grazing has had been assumed in the past, but instead a reflection of recent climatic shifts and fire suppression. Adaptive management through the application of fire, maintenance of grazing, and the reintroduction of native grazers is demonstrated to be key to sustaining ecosystem function. The borderlands research program illustrates that non-traditional alliances between ranchers and researchers can often attain a level of conservation and science unattainable thought traditional academic or agency based administrative structures alone. Overall this work illustrates that when environmental problems are addressed at scales relevant to conservation and management, and studied dynamically by examining the interaction of multiple variables, that common sense solutions to preserving open, functioning landscapes are often more attainable.

Sid Goodloe

RANGELAND AND WATERSHED HISTORY, PRESENT CONDITION AND REHABILITATION METHODS

The importance of rangeland condition to a properly functioning watershed is now the focus of concern throughout the world.  This is due primarily to the increasing demand for water and the continued decline of the water production capability of those rangelands.  The root causes of this scenario in the western U.S. are primarily a lack of understanding of a brittle environment and the frontier mentality that was evident as the west was settled.  This decline has been further exacerbated by increasingly efficient fire suppression, which has prevented the historical natural fire regime from controlling the population of invading water-hungry plants.  A more “holistic” approach to management of our rangeland has begun to spread throughout the western United States promising the return of healthy watersheds.

Lara Hartley

USING DENSITY ESTIMATES TO DETERMINE PASSERINE BIRD RESPONSE TO 3 PHASES OF PINYON-JUNIPER ENCROACHMENT IN EASTERN NEVADA

Single-leaf Pinyon pine (pinus monophylla) and Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) encroachment into big sagebrush communities is a west-wide concern.  Passerine birds are often used as indicators of plant community change.  Study objectives were to 1) Determine plant community characteristics (density and cover) in each of 3 pinyon-juniper encroachment phases into Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate ssp. Wyomingensis) sites; and 2) Estimate densities and diversity of passerine birds to determine responses to encroachment dynamics.  Study sites were located in Wyoming sagebrush communities on BLM lands in Ely District, NV, and included 3 replications of each encroachment phase (no encroachment, transitional, and encroached).  Birds were surveyed using fixed-width line transects (150mX600m) on 3 consecutive mornings per treatment at each site (June 14th to July 18th 2002).  Preliminary results indicate greater passerine abundance (10.3 birds ha-1) and greater species richness (n=25) in the transitional community.  The most abundant specie observed in the transitional phase was the Black-throated sparrow (Amphispiza billneata) at 37.7%.  The pinyon-juniper encroached phase exhibited the lowest passerine abundance (8.8 birds ha-1), however species richness was similar to the sagebrush community with no encroachment (n=22 for both treatments).  The most abundant specie in the encroached treatment was Mountain chickadee (Parus gambeli), 16.7%, and Sage sparrow (Amphispiza belli) in the no encroachment treatment, 26.9%.  Preliminary data indicates species richness and a greater abundance of passerine birds are supported in the transitional phase.  When sagebrush is completely encroached, both richness and abundance decrease.

Dr. Charles Kay

THE CONDITION AND TREND OF ASPEN ON BLM LANDS IN NORTH CENTRAL NEVADA

Aspen is of special concern in the West because the species does not commonly grow from seed due to its demanding seed-bed requirements.  It is thought that environmental conditions have not been conducive to seedling growth and clonal establishment since shortly after the glaciers retreated 10,000 or more years ago.  Hence, aspen clones found in north-central Nevada today have likely maintained their presence on those sites for thousands of years via vegetative regeneration; i.e. root sprouting.  In addition, aspen communities support an array of other species and have the highest biodiversity of any upland forest type in the West.  This is especially true in north-central Nevada where many aspen stands are associated with riparian habitats.  Aspen, though, has been declining in Nevada and throughout the Intermountain West since shortly after European settlement.  The reasons for this have been attributed to climatic change, fire suppression, normal plant succession, wild ungulate browsing, and/or grazing by domestic livestock.

Weeds are symptoms indicating that there are underlying problems on the land due to natural or man-made stresses.  Typical weed control ‘chases symptoms’ by trying to kill out a plant species with no long-range thinking, planning, or goal setting.  Land restoration using goat grazing addresses the underlying problem of land health.  Goals for the land include: restoring a healthy, functioning water cycle while reducing percentage of bare ground and increasing mineral recycling.  Undesirable plants are merely recycled to natural fertilizer and scattered back on the desired plants.  Applying a herd of goats employs about 6 different functions all at once:  the goats’ natural diet preferences for browse and forbs (grass is the last choice), fertilizer, irrigation, mulching, tilling, and aeration.  Exploiting goats’ innate behavior along with the diet preference re-directs selection pressure on the plants to a favorable direction, thereby restoring grasslands.

Mike Pellant

An Update on the Great Basin Restoration Initiative

The Great Basin is a semi-arid desert in the Intermountain West, U.S.A. that was historically dominated by shrubs with a perennial herbaceous understory and maintained by periodic wildfires. The area’s largest land manager is the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees nearly 75 million acres of public lands.  Biological integrity is at increasing risk as invasive species (both weeds and native junipers) continue to displace native plants and wildfire size and frequency increase. The Great Basin Restoration Initiative (GBRI) was initiated in 1999 after a disastrous wildfire season (1.7 million acres of public lands were burned) to restore diversity and stability on degraded rangelands and woodlands.  This proactive program emphasizes restoration of plant diversity and structure prior to unwanted disturbances, thereby reducing the threat of invasive species, risks of wildfires and the costs associated with managing these disturbances. The Initiative encourages collaborative, science-based projects that provide economic benefits to local communities.  Funds from BLM’s Native Plant Initiative are assisting to increase the availability of native plants for restoration, especially native forbs, via the “Great Basin Native Plant Selection and Increase Project.” Techniques to control cheatgrass and establish “ecological placeholders” utilizing competitive native and introduced grasses and forbs in cheatgrass-dominated rangelands are being addressed in the “Integrated Weed Control for Great Basin Rangelands” project.  This multi-state project is funded by the Department of Agriculture and involves four Great Basin universities and four federal agencies. 

The first priority under GBRI is to maintain healthy landscapes followed by restoration of priority, degraded landscapes.  Planned restoration activities will also benefit local economies and provide for the sustainable use and enjoyment of Great Basin public lands. The Eastern Nevada Landscape Restoration Project is the most advanced project for GBRI implementation.  It links community, science, and management on 8 million acres of public land administered by BLM in eastern Nevada and now serves as a model for restoration activities throughout the Great Basin. If this Initiative and other regional restoration projects associated with it are not successful, the largest desert in the United States will continue to unravel ecologically with significant negative impacts to people and natural resources.