Foothills Fescue Range Plant Community Guide - Sustainable ...

Parry Oat Grass - Foothills Rough Fescue - Idaho Fescue FFA10
(Danthonia parryi - Festuca campestris - Festuca idahoensis) Herbaceous
n=12 This is a late seral plant community on gravel and shallow-to-gravel range sites in the Foothills
Fescue and Foothills Parkland Natural Subregions. Most of the gravel and shallow to gravel parent
materials occur along the gradient between the two natural subregions so it is difficult to distinguish
communities for each subregion. Soils are Orthic Black and Rego Black Chernozems developed developed
on coarse outwash gravels. The outwash shallow surface horizons are loam to silt loam in texture. The
increased abundance of Parry Oatgrass and Idaho fescue are normally associated with grazing history but
may be a function of site as well. Gravelly soils normally have a higher canopy cover and constancy of
shrubby cinquefoil, a shrub that commonly increases with grazing pressure. Compared to loamy soils,
gravel and shallow to gravel sites are more droughty, forage yields are lower and less stable. This
community type is somewhat more resistant to invasion by Timothy and Kentucky bluegrass than loamy
sites. Soil exposure will normally be less than 5% on this type.
Soil Exposure: 1 % (0-3) Moss/Lichen Cover: 8 % (0-26) Total Vegetation: 92% (83-98)
PLANT COMPOSITION CANOPY COVER(%)
MEAN RANGE CONST
SHRUBS
SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL
(Potentilla fruticosa) 2 0-10 50
FORBS
SILKY PERENNIAL LUPINE
(Lupinus sericeus) 1 0-4 50
THREE-FLOWERED AVENS
(Geum triflorum) 3 0-13 58
NORTHERN BEDSTRAW
(Galium boreale) 2 0-6 92
GRASSES
PARRY OAT GRASS
(Danthonia parryi) 32 19-43 100
FOOTHILLS ROUGH FESCUE
(Festuca campestris) 11 2-24 100
BLUEBUNCH FESCUE
(Festuca idahoensis) 8 4-14 100
UNDIFFERENTIATED SEDGE
(Carex) 6 2-11 100
KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS
(Poa pratensis) 4 0-13 58
AWNED WHEAT GRASS
(Agropyron subsecundum) 4 1-10 100
JUNE GRASS
(Koeleria macrantha) 3 0-10 83
TIMOTHY
(Phleum pratense) 2 0-13 42
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
RANGE SITE:
GRAVEL AND SHALLOW TO GRAVEL
SOILS:
ORTHIC BLACK CHERNOZEM (BLACKFOOT,
ROCKFORT, RINARD)
REGO BLACK CHERNOZEM
ELEVATION:
SOIL DRAINAGE:
WELL DRAINED
RAPIDLY DRAINED
VERY RAPIDLY DRAINED
SLOPE :
NEARLY LEVEL
VERY GENTLE
ASPECT:
SOUTHERLY
NORTHERLY
FORAGE PRODUCTION (LB/AC)
GRASS NOT AVAILABLE
FORB NOT AVAILABLE
SHRUB NOT AVAILABLE
LITTER NOT AVAILABLE
TOTAL NOT AVAILABLE
Ecologically Sustainable Stocking Rate
0.35 AUM/ac
39