Assessing Browse Trend At The Landscape Level: Part 1: Preliminary Steps and Field Survey

Abstract

w oody plants are an important component of rangeland habitat, providing food and shelter for animals that range in size from moose to warblers to insects. Because of this importance, land managers are paying increased attention to browse trends. In this two-part article, we describe how browse trend is assessed at the Mt. Haggin Wildlife Management Area in southwestern Montana.Located south of Anaconda, Montana (Fig. l), winters are extremely cold and windy at the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area. The annual precipitation is Fig. 2. Willow co~nrnzinityprovides critical habitat for wildlife. about 20 inches, much of which occurs as snow.

Interactions of sapsuckers andCytosporacanker can facilitate decline of riparian willows

“…Peinetti et al (2002) concluded that willow decline in RMNP was "clearly associated with an increase in elk abundance". Willow stems greater than 200 to 250 cm tall are thought to be above the reach of browsing elk and moose (Keigley et al 2002). Willow stems outside exclosures in the Kawuneeche Valley averaged 82 cm indicating all unexclosed willows are within the reach of browsers.…”

Indicators of Browsing Pressure Suggest Constraints on Riparian Willows: A Case Study From the Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming

“…Within each sampling plot, observers determined the dominant browsing-related architecture for each of four height-classes: 0-50 cm, 50-150 cm, 150-250 cm, and > 250 cm, as in Keigley et al 1 The four browsing-related architectures were 1) "uninterrupted," produced under light-moderate browsing conditions; 2) "arrested," produced by intense browsing; 3) "retrogressed," produced by a change from light or moderate browsing to intense browsing; and 4) "released," produced by a change from intense browsing to light or moderate browsing (Fig. 3).…”

“…During the summer and fall of 2013, 16 of the 42 sites were revisited to complete more direct measures of recent height growth following browsing based on the "live-dead index" (LD index), of Keigley et al 2 Sites were selected for sampling opportunistically, based primarily on accessibility. As above, GPS navigation was used to return to the general location of sampling sites surveyed in 2012.…”

Historical landscape repeat photography as a tool for land use change research

“…Also in the American west, repeat photography has been applied to topics as varied as geomorphology (Graf 1987, Butler & Malanson 1990, Butler 1994, Webb 1996, Pérez 1998, volcanic geology (Topinka 1992), biogeography and forest ecology (Veblen & Lorenz 1991, Clay & Marsh 2001, Gruell 2001, Manier & Laven 2002, range management (Hall 2002, Keigley et al 2002, Johnson 2003, and historical architectural studies (Ahlstrom 1992). A recent bibliography listed 175 sources on repeat photography in range and forest management in the American west (Hart & Laycock 1996); they build upon an earlier work that lists 450 sources, largely in the same region (Rogers et al 1984).…”

“…Most of the above studies used photo intervals of multiple decades up to a century. Shorter interval photography has been used fruitfully to monitor system responses to disturbances such as floods, debris flows, grazing, or fires over a period of a few years (Ives 1987, Butler & Malanson 1993, Hall 2002, Keigley et al 2002, or to demonstrate seasonal changes in vegetation cover (Kull 2002, Nüsser 2002. Such photography frequently focuses on smaller parts of the landscape, down to individual trees (Kullman 1988) or patches of grass (Hall 2002).…”