Mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) ecosystems have been the focus of significant conservation efforts, primarily due to their importance to both livestock and wildlife. Wildfire is reported as the most common and widespread natural disturbance that occurs in this system and the factors affecting recovery from fire are of interest to those who manage this sensitive environment. While the process of recovery is well documented, little is known about the rate of sagebrush seed production within the community or how that rate changes over time. During 2010-2011, we sampled fourteen mountain big sagebrush sites throughout central and south-central Utah. Each site had been burned on a different date between 1978 and 2001. We estimated potential seed production for each site by counting the total number of florets  produced by three size classes of mountain big sagebrush shrubs. We also measured a suite of characteristics at each site including shrub density, shrub height, vegetative cover, soil depth, and vegetative community. Using model selection we found a significant correlation between time since fire and sagebrush density (r2=0.41; p<0.01) and sagebrush density and floret production (r2=0.66; p<0.001). Understanding the factors that affect seed production following a disturbance can help land managers better manage for successful recovery.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.