Authors
Jeff Ott, Francis Kilkenny, USFS RMRS
Danny Summers, UT DWR
Tyler Thompson, UT Department of NR
Steve Petersen, BYU
Overview
This study used data from an earlier experiment set up following a wildfire that burned across the Tintic Valley, UT, in 1999. Four different seed mixes, plus a non-seeded control, had been applied in landscape-scale replicates. Two ‘conventional’ mixes contained commonly seeded non-native (Eurasian) species such as crested wheatgrass, and the other two mixes were comprised of native species at two levels of diversity and seeding rate. This study documents successional trends and assesses the degree to which restoration objectives are being met for the longer term. Findings of these studies have been published, see below.
Figure 1. Cover by species group at sites in Tintic Valley, Utah, as recorded 3 yr (2002) and 16 yr (2015) following fire and seeding. Bars indicate means, error bars, standard errors. Within each cell (species groups within sites), means with the same letter are not significantly different (P < 0.05). If the treatment × year interaction was not significant, significance is shown separately for treatment (letters spanning both yr) and year (text in cell). Treatments: ARS indicates Agricultural Research Service mix; BLM, Bureau of Land Management mix; NH, Native high diversity mix; NL, Native low diversity mix; USC, unseeded control.
Figure 2. Bray–Curtis similarity of post-fire treatments in relation to reference communities based on local unburned areas (UB) and ecological site descriptions (ESD), during two time periods at two sites (Mud Springs and Jericho) in Tintic Valley, UT, USA. Points and error bars are means and standard errors for each combination of treatment (colors), period (X-axes), site (horizontal panels) and reference community (vertical panels); higher values along Y-axes indicate greater similarity of treatments to indicated reference communities. In each panel, different letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) differences between treatments within periods, i.e., lowercase letters for Period 1 (2000–2002, corresponding to post-fire years 1–3) and uppercase letters for Period 2 (2015–2017, or post-fire years 16–18). Significant (p < 0.05) increases and decreases from Period 1 to 2 are shown by + and − symbols, respectively. ARS, Agricultural Research Service mix; BLM, Bureau of Land Management mix; NH, native high-diversity mix; NL, native low-diversity mix; USC, unseeded control.
Purpose
The objective of this research is to evaluate long-term (15+ years) outcomes of post-fire seeding with conventional and native seed mixes in sagebrush and pinyon-juniper ecosystems of the Great Basin, using a pre-established seeding experiment in Tintic Valley, Utah as a case study.
Geography
Sagebrush and pinyon-juniper ecosystems of the Great Basin.
Results
Thompson T.W.; Roundy, B.A.; McArthur, E.D.; Jessop, B.D.; Waldron, B.; Davis, J.N. 2006. Fire rehabilitation using native and introduced species: A landscape trial. Rangeland Ecology and Management. 59: 237-248.
Kilkenny, F.F.; Ott, J.E.; Summers, D.D.; Thompson, T.W. 2018 Vegetation succession in post-fire seeding treatments: Final Report to the Joint Fire Science Program.
Ott, J.E.; Kilkenny, F.F.; Summers, D.D.; Thompson, T.W. 2019. Long-term vegetation recovery and invasive annual suppression in native and introduced postfire seeding treatments. Rangeland Ecology & Management. 72: 640-653.
Ott, J.E.; Kilkenny, F.F.; Summers, D.D.; Thompson, T.W.; Petersen, S.L. Post-fire succession of seeding treatments in relation to reference communities in the Great Basin. Applied Vegetation Science, 25: e12633.
Presentations at Conferences/Meetings –
Ott, J.E. 2020. Long-term outcomes of a post-fire seeding experiment in Tintic Valley. Invited oral presentation, Utah Society for Range Management 2020 Annual Meeting (virtual), Nov 10-12, 2020.
Ott, J.E.; Kilkenny, F.F.; Summers, D.D.; Thompson, T.W. 2020. Vegetation succession following post-fire seeding with conventional and native seed mixes in the Great Basin. Invited oral presentation, 47th Natural Areas Conference (virtual), Oct 14, 2020.
Ott, J.E. 2019. Outcomes of post-fire seeding experiments using native seed mixes in the Great Basin. Invited oral presentation, Eighth Western Native Plant Conference, Olympia, WA, Nov 12-14, 2019.
Ott, J.E. 2019. Post-fire seeding experiments with native seed mixes. Invited oral presentation, Intermountain Native Plant Summit IX, Boise, ID, Nov 5-6, 2019.
Ott, J.E. 2019. Long-term evaluation of seed mixes for post-fire seeding. Invited oral presentation, Utah Partners for Conservation and Development-Watershed Restoration Initiative Regional Partnership Workshop, Richfield, UT, May 29, 2019.
Ott, J.E.; Shaw, N.L.; Kilkenny, F.F. 2018. Post-fire seeding as a restoration tool: Competitiveness and resilience of native seedings in shrub steppe ecosystems of the Great Basin. Invited oral presentation, Society for Ecological Restoration Joint Regional Conference, Spokane, WA, Oct 15-18, 2018.
Ott, J.E.; Kilkenny, F.F.; Summers, D.D.; Thompson, T.W. 2018. Effects of seeding treatments on vegetation succession following fire in semiarid ecosystems of the Great Basin. Poster presentation, International Association for Vegetation Science 61st Annual Symposium, Bozeman, MT, Jul 22- 27, 2018.
Ott, J.E., Kilkenny, F.F., Summers, D.D., Thompson, T.W. 2018. Long-term effects of post-fire seed mixes: revisiting a large-scale seeding experiment in Tintic Valley, Utah. Oral presentation, 71st Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Sparks, NV, Jan 28-Feb 2, 2018.
Ott, J.E. 2017. Strategies and equipment for large-scale, multi-species native seedings in North American drylands. Invited oral presentation, VII World Conference on Ecological Restoration, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, Aug 27-Sep 1, 2017.
Webinars –
Kilkenny, F.F.; Ott, J.E. 2020. Evaluating native seed mixes for post-fire seeding in the Great Basin. Webinar hosted by Natural Areas Association, Jul 28, 2020.
Kilkenny, F.F.; Ott, J.E. 2020. Seed mix matters! Webinar hosted by USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, May 20, 2020.