Administrative Report Or Publication
 

Changes in protected and grazed sagebrush-grass in eastern Oregon, 1937 to 1974

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  • Time was the most significant factor influencing brush and grass change inside and outside cattle exclosures over a 37-year period (1937-1974). The 10 exclosures (2 ha) represent the big and low sagebrush (A. tridentata and A. arbuscula) Qunchgrass vegetation of eastern Oregon and were established on the Squaw Butte Experiment Station as it was being developed in the drought years of the 1930s. Charts of permanent plots in 1937 were reevaluated into frequency estimates and the field plots monitored for specie frequency in 1960 and 1974. Frequency of bluebunch wheatgrass (A. spicatum), Idaho fescue (F. idahoensis), bottlebrush squirreltail (S. hystrix), Thurber's needlegrass (S. thurberania), and Sandberg bluegrass (P. sandbergi1) increased or remained stable on both big and low sagebrush habitat type, except for the latter grass on the low sagebrush type. Change in grass frequency outside the exclosures and subjected to grazing was not significantly different from that measured within the exclosures and protected from cattle grazing. Frequency of big and low sagebrush decreased inside and outside the exclosures over the 37-year period; however, the loss occurred primarily after 1960. The sagebrush reduction is believed to be the result of an infestation of the sagebrush defoliator moth (Aroga w.) which was prevelant throughout the Great Basin from 1962 to 1965 and present on the sagebrush at the Squaw Butte Station. The lack of differential response by grasses between protected and grazed years in the early years can be attributed to 1) favorable moisture years after 1937, 2) change from early spring grazing by sheep (1920 to 1935) to spring-through-fall grazing by cattle, and 3) an overall lessening of grazing pressure. Herbaceous change in the latter years, despite the reduction in brush frequency, was small and reflects the dominating competitive force which sagebrush exerts on these communities and the tenacity with which it clings to this environment.
  • Published September 1984. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
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