Impacts of Post-fire Grazing on Native Grasses
Wildfire in the Great Basin disrupts important social and economic land uses, such as domestic livestock grazing. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management typically postpones grazing for two years after fire to allow for both planted seedlings to establish and surviving plants to recover. Allowing suitable rest from grazing is essential to ensuring the persistence of resilient native ecosystems and preventing invasion by annual grasses throughout the region. We examine the effects of varying seasonality and intensity of post-fire livestock grazing on perennial bunchgrass growth and survival over time. |
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The Research
We set up two experiments to answer our questions about post-fire grazing and its effects on perennial bunchgrasses. One experiment examines adult bunchgrasses that resprouted after wildfire, while the other examines bunchgrass seedlings that were drill-seeded post-fire. We implemented a spring and fall defoliation treatment at one and two years after fire to simulate grazing and examine the effects of different delays in livestock grazing reintroduction post-fire. We measured tiller growth and reproduction to quantify the physiological response of different perennial grasses species to timing of grazing.