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Landscape-Scale Rehabilitation of Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae)-Dominated Sagebrush Steppe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Roger L. Sheley ,
Edward A. Vasquez ,
Anna-Marie Chamberlain  and
Brenda S. Smith
Roger L. Sheley*
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR, 97720
Edward A. Vasquez
Affiliation:
Wyoming Wildlife Consultants LLC, Ft. Collins, CO 82051
Anna-Marie Chamberlain
Affiliation:
Oregon State University Extension Malheur County, Ontario, OR 97914
Brenda S. Smith
Affiliation:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Burns, OR, 97720
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: roger.sheley@oregonstate.edu
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Abstract

Producers facing infestations of invasive annual grasses regularly voice the need for practical revegetation strategies that can be applied across broad landscapes. Our objective was to determine the potential for scaling up the single-entry approach for revegetating medusahead-infested rangeland to broader, more heterogeneous landscape-scale revegetation of winter annual grass–infested rangeland. We hypothesized, when applied on a highly variable landscape scale, the combination of imazapic and seeding would provide highest abundance of perennial grasses and lowest amount of annual grasses. Treatments included a control, seeding of crested wheatgrass (‘Hycrest’) and Sandberg's bluegrass, spraying (60 g ai ha−1 imazapic), and a simultaneously applied combination of spraying and seeding. The HyCrest and Sandberg's bluegrass seeding rates were 19 and 3.4 kg ha−1, respectively. The treatments were applied to large plots (1.4 to 8 ha) and replicated five times, with each replication located in different watersheds throughout southeastern Oregon. This study shows that the single-entry approach can be scaled up to larger landscapes, but variation within establishment areas will likely be high. This procedure should reduce the costs over multientry treatment applications and make revegetating annual grass–infested rangeland across landscapes more affordable.

Keywords

Imazapic, medusahead, Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski, crested wheatgrass, Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn. × Agropyron desertorum Gaertn. ‘Hycrest’, Sandberg's bluegrass, Poa secunda J.S. PreslInvasive annual grassesmedusaheadcheatgrassrestorationrangelandone-pass system
Type
Research
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 436 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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