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Restoring rangelands damaged by invasive species and other degradation remains a major challenge for land managers. One means by which success could possibly be improved is by increasing the quality of seed used in restoration efforts. Burning of adult plants has been postulated to improve seed quality through maternal effects. To test this we selected 32 adult perennial grasses, half bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) and half squirreltail (Elymus elymoides). These were randomly assigned to four treatments: control, burned, clipped, and clipped and burned, with 4 replicates (n=32). The clipping treatment was included to determine if any effects from burning were specific to that treatment or part of a more general release from light limitation. We hypothesized that burning would increase seed production and quality; however that was not the case. Burning reduced seed production is both species by more than 50%. However, squirreltail increased seed production when clipped (716 seeds vs 240 seeds), while bluebunch wheatgrass decreased seed production when clipped vs not (5 seeds vs 47 seeds). This indicates that mowing could potentially be an effective strategy to boost seed production in commercial production of squirreltail seed but is not recommended in the case of bluebunch wheatgrass. Burning is not recommended in either case. Best strategies to enhance seed production in other species might vary and should be tested.