Prior to becoming the Grand River National Grasslands, thousands of acres were homesteaded and farmed in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Most of these acres were abandoned after the Dust Bowl and depression of the 1930's. The blowing fields were stabilized by planting crested wheatgrass. Crested wheatgrass worked well for this, but left land managers with a difficult situation. Crested wheatgrass matures early in the summer and livestock soon avoid it, consequently causing excessive use on native grasses.  Through the 1980's and 90's, infrastructure was added such as cross fencing and water developments, but crested wheatgrass was still being avoided and native grass was being over-utilized. In the summer of 2013, the Forest Service and permittees worked together to try and increase use on crested wheatgrass. By midsummer, crested wheatgrass utilization was <10% and native grasses had utilization levels >80%. In this talk, I will discuss the tools used and how we can work together to more effectively manage crested wheatgrass. Grazing crested wheatgrass requires intensive management to meet goals and objectives while maintaining current livestock numbers.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.