We assessed a photographic technique to estimate shrub yield and utilization of common snowberry, snowbrush, and heart-leafed willow found in mixed-conifer rangelands. We determined the correlation between green leaf area size (LA) and forage yield (Y) and compared plant utilization estimated by photographic technique (ULA) to actual utilization (UY) values....
Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), elk (Cervus elaphus), and cattle share rangelands throughout much of interior western North America. Considerable debate exists about the degree to which facilitation or competition occurs for forage between these three species (Nelson 1982, Wisdom and Thomas 1996, Miller 2002). Prior cattle grazing can have beneficial...
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...
A study was conducted to determine foraging efficiency of cattle, mule deer, and elk in response to previous grazing by elk and cattle. Four enclosures, in previously logged mixed conifer (Abies grandis) rangelands were chosen, and within each enclosure, three 0.75 ha pastures were either: 1) ungrazed, 2) grazed by...
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...