Foothills Fescue Range Plant Community Guide - Sustainable ...

Foothills Rough Fescue - Northern and Western Wheat Grass - FFA24
(Festuca campesteris -Agropyron dasystachyum and smithii) Herbaceous
n=20 This is the reference plant community for black loamy soils in the Foothills Fescue prairie in the
Cardston Plain and Del Bonita Plateau, particularly in the eastern portions adjoining the mixedgrass prairie.
Soils are medium textured, well drained with Orthic Black Chernozems and surface Ah horizons less than
20 cm in thickness (often 10 - 15 cm). This community type also occurs on clayey range sites where a
higher proportion of wheatgrasses would be expected. This community type occurs on very similar soils
to FFA1 and in close transition to the Mixedgrass subregion. With heavy grazing pressure, rough fescue
is replaced by wheatgrass species, especially Western wheatgrass which appears to be somewhat better
adapted to disturbance than Northern wheatgrass. This plant community has slightly more soil exposure
as well as moss/lichen cover than FFA2 or FFA5. Winter Chinook winds expose this grassland type and
it is commonly used for winter grazing a practice, which serves to maintain a high abundance of rough
fescue. In this drier variant of the foothills rough fescue community, litter management is important to
maintain
moisture retention on the site.
Soil Exposure: 9 % (1-24)Moss/Lichen Cover: 7 % (2-26) Total Vegetation: 89% (68 - 98%)
PLANT COMPOSITION CANOPY COVER(%)
MEAN RANGE CONST
SHRUBS
CREEPING JUNIPER
(Juniperus horizontalis) 5 0-24 45
BUCKBRUSH
(Symphoricarpos occidentalis)4 0-18 70
PRAIRIE ROSE
(Rosa arkansana) 1 0-4 50
FORBS
PASTURE SAGEWORT
(Artemisia frigida) 2 0-7 70
GRASSES
FOOTHILLS ROUGH FESCUE
(Festuca campestris) 36 24-54 100
UNDIFFERENTIATED WHEATGRASS
(Agropyron) 15 3-29 100
KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS
(Poa pratensis) 4 0-20 50
JUNE GRASS
(Koeleria macrantha) 3 0-10 75
AWNLESS BROME
(Bromus inermis) 3 0-21 35
GREEN NEEDLE GRASS
(Stipa viridula) 3 0-19 40
WESTERN PORCUPINE GRASS
(Stipa curtiseta) 2 0-9 70
BLUEBUNCH WHEAT GRASS
(Agropyron spicatum) 2 0-11 35
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES
RANGE SITE:
LOAMY 4 AND CLAYEY
SOILS:
ORTHIC BLACK (BEAZER, COWLEY)
ELEVATION (M):
1250 TO 1300
SOIL DRAINAGE:
WELL DRAINED
SLOPE :
LEVEL TO STRONGLY SLOPING
ASPECT:
VARIABLE
FORAGE PRODUCTION (LB/AC)
GRASS NOT AVAILABLE
FORB NOT AVAILABLE
SHRUB NOT AVAILABLE
LITTER NOT AVAILABLE)
TOTAL NOT AVAILABLE
Ecologically Sustainable Stocking Rate
0.4 Aum/ac
47