Summary Report on the Success of
Six Native and Three Introduced
Grasses when Seeded into a
Rangeland Fire Situation with
Different Techniques and
Treatments
Kelly L Memmott
Ecologist USFS Region Four
Fishlake National Forest
Background
The completion of Phase 1, a common garden study of six native
grasses on five sites within the Colorado Plateau in 2012.
Develop Phase 2, to find out how these grasses germinated under
burned conditions with differing seeding techniques and the
addition of treatments such as fire retardant, straw mulch, or both.
Used three seed sources from each species of the Phase 1 study.
These grasses are; Achy, Elel, Heco, Koma, Pofe, and Pose
Decided to include three introduced grasses that are regularly used
in seedings. Agcr, Psju, and Thin.
Used the same plot locations from Phase 1, found on the Ashley,
Dixie, Fishlake, and Manti LaSal Forests.
The entire Phase 2 plot measured 120 x 120 feet
Divided in half, one side was burned the other was not.
Both sides were then divided again into two columns and labeled
Scarified or Broadcast.
All columns were divided into 10 foot sections and labeled control,
retardant, mulch, and mix.
Rows were assigned randomly from 1 to 9 within each subpplot.
Each grass species was assigned a number between 1 and 9.
A line was pulled and a small furrow made in all the scarified plots.
Fire retardant was applied by backpack sprayer.
ASHLEY SITE 2014 PLANTING
NON-BURNED
BURNED
BROADCAST
SCARIFIED
BROADCAST
SCARIFIED
3 2 6 7 5 4 1 8 9 A
7 5 3 8 9 2 1 6 4 B
7 8 5 4 1 6 3 9 2 A
3 7 5 4 6 1 9 8 2 A
3 6 1 5 9 2 4 8 7 C
9 2 8 1 5 3 4 6 7 A
7 3 8 6 5 4 2 9 1 C
8 2 9 1 4 5 3 7 6 A
3 4 8 7 9 5 6 1 2 B
1 5 8 6 3 9 4 2 7 C
2 3 4 6 9 5 1 8 7 B
2 5 9 6 3 8 1 7 4 A
7 3 5 8 9 6 4 2 1 A
7 8 6 4 2 3 9 1 5 B
4 3 6 1 7 9 2 5 8 A
6 4 8 7 5 3 1 9 2 A
7 8 5 4 2 6 3 9 1 C
1 4 5 7 2 6 3 9 8 A
4 7 5 3 9 2 8 1 6 C
7 9 4 1 6 5 2 3 8 B
3 5 6 8 7 2 1 4 9 B
4 7 9 3 2 1 8 6 5 C
9 8 5 2 6 3 7 1 4 B
8 1 6 9 4 5 2 7 3 B
5 7 6 9 1 2 8 3 4 A
2 4 9 3 7 6 5 8 1 B
5 2 1 4 8 7 9 3 6 A
8 7 2 3 6 4 1 5 9 B
8 6 2 3 9 7 5 1 4 C
7 1 5 8 4 6 9 3 2 A
3 7 2 9 8 5 6 4 1 C
8 6 1 7 5 3 2 4 9 B
5 6 4 2 9 1 7 8 3 B
9 6 3 4 7 8 5 1 2 C
2 3 5 9 8 4 1 6 7 B
9 3 1 5 2 8 4 7 6 C
1 8 9 4 2 5 3 7 6 A
5 8 9 1 2 7 3 6 4 B
8 6 2 7 1 5 9 4 3 A
2 8 9 1 7 6 4 5 3 C
4 3 8 2 5 9 6 7 1 C
3 7 2 6 5 4 9 1 8 A
5 8 9 6 1 4 7 2 3 C
4 7 9 6 5 3 1 2 8 C
2 1 8 7 4 9 6 3 5 B
6 3 9 1 4 5 2 7 8 C
1 7 3 9 8 2 5 4 6 B
3 2 5 4 8 7 1 9 6 C
Control
Retardant
Mix
Straw
1 Agcr (crested wheatgrass)
6 Achy (indian ricegrass)
2 Thin (intermediate wheatgrass)
7 Pofe (muttongrass)
3 Psju (russian wildrye)
A-78
4 Elel (squirreltail)
B-79
A-147
B-149
C-153
5 Koma (prairie junegrass)
A-52
B-41
C-49
C-81
8 Pose (sandberg bluegrass)
A-108
B-118
C-120
9 Heco (needle and thread)
Manti LaSal Fire crew burning the Manti site.
Seed was germination tested and placed into envelopes with 500
viable seeds
Species
A,B,C
% Germ
Achy
White River
68
Elel
147 A
75
149 B
84
153C
79
Hesp
All
68
Koma
52A
48
41B
77
49C
59
78A
59
79B
74
81C
52
108A
46
118B
76
120C
76
Pofe
Pose
All sites were measured
three times (May-August)
Data was gathered and
organized to be anayzed
Photo records were made.
This is Elel at the Ashley
site in a non burned,
scarified, and mixed plot
with 149 B collection.
Summary Results
Total Emergence
Non Natives
Emergence
Natives
Emergence
Agcr
659
Achy
358
Thin
297
Pose
289
Psju
192
Elel
269
Koma
216
Heco
167
Pofe
135
Burned vs. Non-Burned
Burned plots had 1.57 times greater emergence than Non-Burned
Agcr and Koma performed equal on both
Thin
1.2 X
Psju
1.49 X
Achy
2.7 X
Pofe
4.07 X
Heco
2.15 X
Elel
1.86 X
Pose
2.14 X
Scarified vs. Broadcast
Overall, scarified was 6.56 X more successful than Broadcast
Agcr
Thin
Psju
Achy
Elel
Heco
Koma
Pofe
Pose
3.11 X
12.5 X
13.7 X
10.1 X
21.4 X
4.21 X
23 X
5.9 X
5.8 X
Individual Stats on Treatments
Species
Control
Retardant
Mulch
Mix
Agcr
288 (44%)
190 (29%)
91(14%)
90(13%)
Psju
137(71%)
36(19%)
19(10%)
0
Thin
176(59%)
83(29%)
19(6%)
19(6%)
Achy
78(22%)
104(29%)
90(25%)
86(24%)
Elel
141(52%)
55(20%)
44(16%)
29(12%)
Heco
58(35%)
27(16%)
28(16%)
54(33%)
Koma
90(42%)
54(25%)
47(22%)
25(11%)
Pofe
81(61%)
23(17%)
22(17%)
6(5%)
Pose
157(54%)
67(24%)
50(17%)
15(5%)
Total
1206(46%)
637(25%)
410(16%)
324(13%)
Ongoing into 2016
Will gather one season of survival and new emergence (if any)
Analyze data
Publish the results.
Thank You!!