An assessment of how wild "feral" horse use and livestock grazing management strategies influence meadow function is critical for understanding late brood-rearing habitat suitability for the greater sage-grouse in herd management areas (HMAs) and horse territories (HTs) that are managed for livestock grazing. Suitablility indicators for sage-grouse late brood-rearing mesic/riparian habitat include: proximity to sagebrush cover, availability of preferred forbs, and site stability [proper functioning condition (PFC)]. Due to the prevailing arid climate within the Great Basin, late brood-rearing habitat, especially in riparian-wetland areas, is often limited. We randomly selected a meadow site in 30 randomly selected allotments that are managed for livestock grazing, within HMAs and HTs boundaries, and categorized as greater sage-grouse core management habitat (Coates et.al, 2014, update March 2015). In a five-year study we will sample for long-term and short-term indicators using vegetation, soil, and hydrologic sampling methods derived from Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring for Lentic Systems (Dickard et al. in preparation). Wildlife trail cameras will record animal use to understand the correlation between meadow functioning condition and grazing use variables (season, duration, and intensity). We hypothesize that without the full set of management strategies that addresses both wild horse and livestock use in riparian-wetland systems, proper functioning condition indicators for lentic systems will be significantly influenced by grazing use variables than when compared to environmental variables. Furthermore, livestock grazing season and duration use will have a greater significance in meadow proper functioning condition indicators for lentic systems than when compared to wild horse season and duration use. This research will help guide grazing management decisions for riparian-wetland systems where wild horses and cattle graze together so that managers can fulfill commitments to manage for PFC and for sage-grouse habitat.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.