In northeastern California there are two distinct rangeland areas heavily populated by feral horses, the Devil's Garden area managed primarily by US Forest Service and the East Lassen area managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management. Feral horse herds in both locations have significantly exceeded appropriate management levels in recent years. This increase has prompted concern about resource degradation particularly associated with spring areas. In otherwise arid sage steppe rangelands, springs provide critical watering sources as well as wildlife habitat for sage grouse, deer, elk, pronghorn, etc. Our objective is to quantify the relative frequency, duration, and timing of use by horses, permitted livestock, and wildlife at spring locations. In turn, we assess to what extent there is competition between species for watering sites. We are correlating how varying levels of horse and/or livestock use affects spring site vegetation and riparian health standards. Ten representative study locations were selected in both the Devil's Garden and East Lassen areas. Motion sensitive cameras were deployed at each location for 14-day sampling periods during July and October of 2015. Number of photos recorded per site ranged from 800 to more than 9000. All photos were visually assessed to record species present, number of each species, and the time, date, and location of the observation. We present spring site occupancy data for two complete sampling periods, as well as results of corresponding vegetative cover, plant community, and bank alteration sampling. This information will aid public and private land management as it relates to feral horses in northeastern California.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.