Wildfire in Wyoming big sagebrush communities increases the risk of exotic annual grass invasion, results in short-term loss of forage, and decreases habitat for sage-grouse and other sagebrush-associated wildlife species for decades. Fuel treatments are needed to reduced wildfire risk and increase plant community resilience to fire and resistance to post-fire exotic annual grass invasion. Considering the expanse of the Wyoming big sagebrush ecosystem, grazing is probably the only logistically feasible treatment. We evaluated the effects of moderate grazing by cattle during the growing season on fuel characteristics and post-fire recovery. In another study, we investigated the effects of winter grazing by cattle on fuel characteristics and fire behavior. Grazing has the potential to reduce wildfire risk and severity in Wyoming big sagebrush communities. Grazing reduced fine fuel height, accumulation and continuity. Winter grazed areas were unlikely to burn until late August because grazing increased fine fuel moisture content. In contrast, ungrazed areas were dry enough to burn in late June to early July. Moderate grazing also increased the resilience of native herbaceous vegetation to fire and decreased exotic annual grass invasion. Our results demonstrate that properly applied grazing can be an effective tool to reduce wildfire risk and severity and decrease the risk of post-fire exotic annual grass dominance.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.