Rangeland Ecology & Management

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RESPONSE OF IDAHO FESCUE AND BLUEBUNCH WHEATGRASS ASSOCIATIONS ONE YEAR POST-FIRE IN THE CANYON GRASSLANDS
Author
Pack, Samantha J.
Morris, Lesley
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

The effects of natural wildfires on the plant communities of canyon grasslands have been understudied. Studies within the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (HCNRA) have shown inconsistent short-term results for the response of native bunchgrass species to wildfires. Although the short-term results are inconsistent, the long-term results of the impacts of these wildfires are generally consistent within canyon grasslands. The purpose of this study is to assess the short-term (one year post-fire) impacts on two different sites within two different plant community types, bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue. Both sites are located on the same ridge and burned in the fall of 2000 during the Jim Creek Fire. Using cover data, both pre-fire (1982) and post-fire (2001), we were able to determine if either plant community type recovered differently from the same fire. Results from Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) and Multi-response Permutation Procedures (MRPP) show that the plant community composition changes significantly for both sites following the wildfire. Wilcoxon Rank Sum results show that the bluebunch wheatgrass increased significantly following the wildfire (p=0.006), while Idaho fescue did not change significantly following the wildfire (p=0.1464). The results for the Idaho fescue community are consistent with the short-term results of a similar study located on Craig Mountain, Idaho. In contrast, the results from the bluebunch wheatgrass association are more similar to short-term results found by other studies within the HCNRA. Other studies have concluded that the grasslands of the HCNRA are stable communities and show only temporary short-term changes in species cover following moderate- to low-severity fire. The short-term response of native bunchgrass cover is becoming more important to these grasslands as exotic species further establish and influence fire regimes.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA