Item: Recovery of a high elevation plant community after packhorse grazing
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- Title: Recovery of a high elevation plant community after packhorse grazing
- Journal: Journal of Range Management
- Volume: 49
- Page(s): 541-545
- Author(s): Olson-Rutz, K.M. and Marlow, C.B. and Hansen, K. and Gagnon, L.C. and Rossi, R.J.
- Record ID: 924
- Date: 1996
- Article Summary: To determine the impact of packhorse (Equus caballus) grazing on mountain meadows in southwestern Montana, Olson-Rutz et al. measured vegetation one and two years following single or repeated 4-, 8-, or 18-hour picket grazing by horses, during July, August, and September. The sample size in this study was not large enough to detect significant differences, however, adequate sample size numbers and general trends in the data were reported. The data, do, however, suggest that a single period of heavy grazing (18 hours per picket circle) or moderate (8 hours) repeated grazing through a summer can reduce vegetal and litter cover, increase bare soil cover, and reduce grass stem counts. These changes could be precursors to a shift in plant community composition. The authors conclude with that by controlling when, how long, and how frequent packstock graze a meadow, recreational horse use may be managed to meet desired wildland management objectives. The challenge of managing wildland packstock use is to develop a mutually supported packstock management plan which can then be monitored with the resources available to the local wildland manager.
- Notes: The meadow is used little by recreational packstock, but is used frequently by elk.,In 1988, horses were picketed on a set of circles for 4 durations (0, 4, 8, 18, hours) in each of 3 months (early July, mid August, and mid September). The 4-hour circles were grazed for 4 consecutive hours, the 8-hour circles for 4 hours in both the morning and evening, and the 18-hour circles for 9 hours a day for 2 consecutive days.,In 1989, the authors repeated the treatments on another ungrazed part of the same meadow.
- Keyword(s): Equus caballus, horse, grazing response, ground cover, plant growth, grazing
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