The minimum length of the non-grazing period after fire and the effect of early and late grazing on plant productivity were assessed on 60 plants of Idaho fescue and bluebunch wheatgrass randomly selected and assigned to 6 experimental groups of 10 plants each. The study was located at the University of Idaho Experimental Forest, 32.3 miles northeast of Moscow, Idaho, on a south-facing slope. Half of these groups were burned with a field portable instrument used to simulate a natural grass fire. Treatments of non-defoliation, early-season (summer) and late-season (fall) defoliation were applied to the burned and unburned plots. Vegetative and reproductive culms, plant height, and plant mortality were measured monthly throughout the 2 growing seasons following fire treatment.
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