Juniper (Juniperus spp.) encroachment into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) and bunchgrass communities has reduced understory plant cover and allowed juniper trees to dominate millions of hectares of semiarid rangelands. Trees are mechanically masticated/shredded to decrease wildfire potential and increase desirable-understory plant cover. When trees are masticated after a major increase in tree population density and associated decrease in perennial understory cover, there is a risk that invasive annual grasses will dominate because they are highly responsive to the increased resource availability that commonly follows removal of the main resource user. To determine if tree mastication increases resource availability and subsequently favors invasive annual or perennial grasses, we measured soil temperature, water, and nutrients and compared establishment and growth of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) with Anatone bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) A. L
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.