Management and conservation of rangelands are increasingly concerned with maintaining productivity, species composition, and diversity of native plant communities. We estimated aboveground annual productivity, species composition, and diversity of a native bunchgrass type community across 1152, 0.5 m2 plots at The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oregon. Standing...
The estimation of standing crop is important in the management of rangeland resources. Direct measurements by clipping, drying, and weighing of herbaceous vegetation are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, non-destructive methods for efficiently and accurately estimating standing crop are needed in rangeland forage management. We assessed a visual obstruction (VO) technique...
The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the quantity, quality, and moisture of available forage in a riparian pasture, and shrub utilization by cattle during a 30-d late summer grazing period. A riparian pasture (44.7 ha) in northeast of Oregon was grazed with 30 yearlings (419 kg,...
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cow age on botanical composition of diets in mountain riparian areas. Treatments consisted of 30 first calf heifers, and 30 mature cows randomly assigned to four pastures (2 pastures/treatment, average 21.5 ha) in a two-year study with a cross...
Due to the increasing cost and concern of catastrophic wildfires in the Western United States, there is an increasing interest in fuels reduction projects. Fuel reduction treatments utilize various methods of thinning and/or prescribed fire to obtain desirable forest stand conditions. However, the effects of fuels reduction on ecosystem function...
The objective of this study was to quantify understory species diversity response to overstory manipulation of Blue Mountain eco-region forest. Forty nine ecological land units, including differing successional stages (sapling, pole, small saw, and saw log) and canopy cover (light and medium) in dry Grand Fir (Abies grandis), wet Grand...
The objective of this study was to quantify understory vegetation response to overstory manipulation of Blue Mountain eco-region forest. Forty nine ecological land units, including differing successional stages (sapling, pole, small saw, and saw log) and canopy cover (light and medium) in dry Grand Fir (Abies grandis), wet Grand Fir,...
We studied the effect of a lactic acid bacterial additive on the quality of silage made of grass-legume mixtures in the forest steppe zone of Mongolia. The use of lactic acid bacterial ferment positively influenced the diet digestion and the cows silage consumption. The cows ate well the silage treated...