Restoring Energy Fields for Wildlife Project update

October 31, 2012 Danielle Johnston

Eliminate seed bank Encourage

natural dispersal

Eliminate natural dispersal

Apply Herbicide

Apply Brush as mulch

Forgo seeding

seed grasses lightly

seed Grasses heavily

Strategy Choice and Competition Experiments

Pipeline and Gulley Experiments

Mountain Top Experiment

elevation

Competition Part 2 and Horsethief Demonstration site

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

2010 2011 2012

GVM

YC1

MTN

SPG

March-June Precipitation Pr

ecip

itatio

n (m

m)

Competition Experiment

vs.

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

… 300 seeds/m2 450 seeds/m2

Cheatgrass (annual) Perennial wheatgrasses

Competition Experiment

2. Rolling treatment

No Rolling

Rolled 5X

1. Soil Binding Treatment

None

High (440 gal/ac)

Low (175 gal/ac)

3. SAP Treatment

None

Luquasorb ®

Super Absorbent Polymer Treatment

-O O O

OH

K+

2 Sites: SGE (6.7 g/m2) WRR (30.8 g/m2)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

SGE WRR SGE WRR SGE WRR

SAP

no SAP

2010 (density)

2011 (cover)

2012 (cover)

Cheatgrass and SAP D

ensi

ty (p

lant

s/m

2 ) o

r co

ver

(%)

LC

H

L N

N

L

H

L H

N

L

H

N

N

H

L N

H

L

L N

H

L

H

N

H

N

L H

L

N

N

H

L L

H

N

H

L N

N

L

H

N

H

L L

N

H

N

L H

H

N

L

L H

H

N

L

LC

LC HC HC

LC

HC

HC

LC

HC LC

HC

N

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

Competition Experiment Strategy Choice Experiment

Tramfloc Tramfloc

Tramfloc

Competition Part 2

Competition Part 2

Variety common name Genus Species Seeds/m2 Nezpar indian ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides 130 Hachita Blue Gramma Bouteloua gracilis 65 Toe Jam Creek bottlebrush squirreltail Elymus elymoides 65 San Luis slender wheatgrass Elymus trachycalus 52 cedar Sandberg Bluegrass Poa sandbergii 182 Anatone Bluebunch wheatgrass pseudoregneria spicata 104 VNS Sulphur flower buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum 130 Timp Utah sweetvetch Hedysarum boreale 26 Maple Grove Lewis flax linum lewsii 91 Cedar Palmer penstemon pestemon palmeri 104 Arriba western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii 39 "co native" Fourwing saltbush Atriplex canescens 195 VNS Wyoming Big Sagebrush Artemisia tridentata 150

forb

bunch grass

rhizomatous grass

shrub

Competition Part 2

GVM SGE MTN WRR

Strategy Choice Experiment

5451 ft. 6573 ft. 7160 ft. 7268 ft.

Strategy Choice Experiment

2. Soil surface treatment

Rough surface with brush mulch

Flat surface with straw mulch

1. Seed Mix treatment

High Competition Seed mix

Low Competition Seed mix

3. Herbicide treatment

Plateau herbicide

No herbicide

(GVM and MTN only)

Seed mix treatment Low Competition mix

High Competition mix

WRFO mix

538 seeds/m2 1049 seeds/m2

1614 seeds/m2

Plateau treatment

Surface treatment

Flat Rough 2011 photos

Actual weight (g)

Estim

ated

wei

ght (

g)

Biomass Data Collection

July 11, 2011 July 2, 2012

Wagon Road Site Plot Number 3

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

annual grass

annual forb

High Competition

Low Competition

*

*

Seed mix treatment Bi

omas

s (g

/m2 )

Plateau treatment

MTN site

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160 180 200

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

annual grass annual forb

Plateau

No Plateau *

* Biom

ass

(g/m

2 )

Surface treatment

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

GVM

0

20

40

60

80

100

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

*

*

SGE

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

* MTN

0

50

100

150

200

perennial grass

perennial forb

perennial shrub

WRR *

Biom

ass

(g/m

2 )

Flat Surface

Rough Surface

Cheatgrass and Soil Surface Treatment- 2011

0

10

20

30

40

50

Plateau No Plateau

Flat Surface

Rough Surface

*

Ann

ual G

rass

Cov

er (%

)

Cheatgrass and Soil Surface Treatment- 2012

Biom

ass

(g/m

2 )

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

Plateau no Plateau

Flat Rough

*

Horsethief Demonstration Project

Horsethief Demonstration Project

Horsethief Demonstration Project

common name Genus Species Seeds/m2 PLS/acre

Western yarrow Achillea millefolium 30 0.04

Indian ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides 60 1.67

Wyoming Sagebrush Artemisia tridentata 120 0.32

Fourwing saltbush Atriplex canescens 40 5.89

Blue Gramma Bouteloua gracilis 100 0.56

yellow rabbitbrush Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus 50 0.31

bottlebrush squirreltail Elymus elymoides 60 1.26

Streambank wheatgrass Elymus lanceolatus ssp. psammophilus 40 0.95

slender wheatgrass Elymus trachycalus 40 1.22

Thickspike wheatgrass Elymus lanceolatus ssp. landeolatus 50 1.30

rubber rabbitbrush Ericameria nauseosa 60 0.40

Aspen fleabane Erigeron speciosus 50 0.13 Sulfur-flower buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum 23 0.45

Utah sweetvetch Hedysarum boreale 15 1.81

needle and thread Hesperostipa commata 30 1.06

winterfat Krascheninnikovia lanata 10 0.36

Lewis flax linum lewsii 40 0.54

western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii 30 1.07

Dusty Penstemon Penstemon comarrhenus 90 0.61

Palmer penstemon pestemon palmeri 60 0.40

Sandberg Bluegrass Poa sandbergii 60 0.26

bluebunch wheatgrass Pseudoroegneria spicata 60 1.73

Horsethief Demonstration Project

forb

bunchgrass

rhizomatous grass

shrub

Horsethief Demonstration Project

Tramfloc

Tramfloc

Acknowledgements

Funding:

WPX Energy Encana Oil and Gas Shell Oil Company

Marathon Oil Access:

ConocoPhillips

BLM WRFO BLM CRVFO

Many field technicians