Land managers often apply straw mulch after wildfire to reduce soil erosion and potentially increase soil moisture. Increased soil moisture and reduced soil erosion may foster plant recruitment; however, little is known about mulch treatment effects in Great Basin ecosystems. We examined the effects of straw mulch treatments on the Black Fire, which burned in July 2013 in Great Basin National Park and the Ely, Nevada BLM District. The Ely District fire management program aerially applied certified weed-free native grass straw mulch with Leymus cinereus and Elymus elymoides seeds. Canopy and ground cover, plant density, basal and canopy gaps, and soil stability were measured during the growing season annually from 2014 to 2017 in treated and control areas. Mulch significantly increased canopy cover from 2014 to 2016, but there was no significant effect of mulch on canopy gap. Perennial grass cover and straw mulch grass species were significantly greater in treated sites than controls in 2016. Soil stability decreased over the three years in treated plots. Mulch significantly increased canopy cover while decreasing bare ground. Basal gap increased in mulch sites from 2014 to 2016; the increased basal gap in mulch application over time may be due to mulch washing or blowing away, or being incorporated into the soil surface. Additionally, the mulch treatment showed no significant effects on cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum, cover. Our results suggest that post-fire mulch application promotes vegetative growth and decreases bareground and soil stability over time. The post-fire mulch treatment significantly increased straw mulch species but did not suppress invasive species� cover.� Therefore, additional methods should be considered for restoration treatments seeking to stabilize soils and limit invasion.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.