Foothills Fescue Range Plant Community Guide - Sustainable ...

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Table 11. Litter normals for the Foothills Fescue. Range Site Litter Normal Healthy >65% of normal Healthy with problems 65 to 35% of normal Unhealthy 780 780 650 650-350 325 325-175
lowlands, solonetzic soils, some sandy soils). Erosion and sediment production from sites that are normally unstable is not the focus of this question, but rather the loss of key soil particles from well developed sites that are normally stable. Human-caused bare soil is rated by considering the total bare soil on a range site minus the amount that is normally naturally occurring. For most sites in the Foothills Fescue grassland, there is normally no bare soil. The following table shows the normal range of mean soil exposure values observed in the plant community data. Steep slopes, gravelly soils and thin break sites may have up to about 10% naturally occurring bare soil (Table 12). Table 12. Soil exposure normals for major range sites in the Foothills Fescue grassland. Range Sites Soil Exposure (% canopy cover) Loamy • Loamy 1 moist • Loamy 2 mid • Loamy 3 dry • Loamy steep 0-1% 0-5% 0-8% 5-8% Gravel and Shallow-to-Gravel 5-10% Thin Breaks 5-10% 7.5 Question 5 - Noxious weed infestation. Noxious weeds are invasive plants that are alien species to the rangeland plant community. Weeds are seldom a problem in vigorous, well managed pastures although weed invasion may occasionally happen in healthy stands. Weeds may be introduced to relatively healthy stands through rodent burrows, but generally their presence indicates a degrading plant community. Noxious weeds diminish the agricultural productivity of a site, and threaten biological diversity and the structure, function, and sustainability of ecosystems. They diminish the multiple uses and values that range is normally capable of providing. Weeds normally provide a strong message about range health. Weeds most often invade range where grazing practices have resulted in available niche space (bare soil, surplus moisture); available micro-habitats normally occupied by range plants, but now available to weeds due to overgrazing or some other land use or natural disturbance. Grazing management strives to maintain plant vigor and vegetation cover so that all niche space is filled by one or more plant communities that can occupy the site and thereby minimize weed invasion. 67
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Publication No. T /038 ISBN: 0-7785
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Table of Contents Section Page Exec
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Executive Summary The Foothills Fes
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Determining Ecological Range Sites
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Plant Community Categories Key to R
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2. Plant community is dominated by
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• maintenance of soil/site stabil
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Delacour Plain, which is entirely o
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Fig. 3. Foothills Fescue, and the B
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addition to experiencing warmer sum
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2.2 Correlation of Soils and Range
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Table 4. Soil correlation with ecol
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2.3 Guidelines for Determining Rang
Page 28 and 29: Group 3 Ecological/Range Sites Defi
Page 30 and 31: 3.0 Review of Grazing Research in t
Page 32 and 33: and reduced evapo-transpiration. Wi
Page 34 and 35: 4.0 Previous Plant Community Studie
Page 36 and 37: Table 8. Percent of plots with Kent
Page 38 and 39: adjusted/reduced value is the ecolo
Page 40 and 41: Table 9. Plant communities listed b
Page 42 and 43: Table 10. Range plant communities a
Page 44 and 45: Foothills Rough Fescue - Idaho Fesc
Page 46 and 47: Foothills Rough Fescue - Pasture Sa
Page 48 and 49: Foothills Rough Fescue - Parry Oat
Page 50 and 51: Foothills Rough Fescue - Parry Oat
Page 52 and 53: Idaho Fescue - Foothills Rough Fesc
Page 54 and 55: Undifferentiated Sedge - Kentucky B
Page 56 and 57: Parry Oatgrass - Foothills Rough Fe
Page 58 and 59: Foothills Rough Fescue - Richardson
Page 60 and 61: Northern and Western Wheat Grass -
Page 62 and 63: Northern and Western Wheatgrass - G
Page 64 and 65: Northern and Western Wheatgrass - R
Page 66 and 67: Kentucky Bluegrass - Fringed Sage F
Page 68 and 69: Kentucky Bluegrass - Smooth Brome -
Page 70 and 71: Beaked Willow/Sedge - Tufted Hair G
Page 72 and 73: Creeping Juniper - Parry Oatgrass -
Page 74 and 75: Creeping Juniper/Northern and Weste
Page 76 and 77: How do management changes affect pl
Page 80 and 81: The rating noxious weed infestation
Page 82 and 83: Chanasyk, D.S., E. Mapfumo and W. W
Page 84 and 85: Naeth, M.A., A.W. Bailey, D.J. Plut
Page 86 and 87: APPENDIX 9.1 Ecological Range Site
Page 88 and 89: 9.2 A Concise Guide to Assist Users
Page 90 and 91: Variants Variants of Soil Series ar
Page 92 and 93: Code Definition of Landscape Model
Page 94: 9.2.4 LISTING OF SOIL SERIES FOR TH
Page 97: Timothy-Kentucky Bluegrass/Graceful
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