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Appendix B-Treatment Effectiveness Summaries In the course of conducting BAER team member interviews and reviewing monitoring reports, we ac- quired considerable information on the factors that make the various BAER treatments effective or not, as well as useful tips for implementation. Moat of the information was not amenable to tabulation or other quantitative expression, so it was entered into our database in "comments' fields. This information has been summarized below, along with the effectiveness ratings developed from the interview forma. The effectiveness and implementation information in these descriptions comes strictly from the com- ments and monitoring reports collected by ua in this project. They are not intended to be comprehensive analyses of each treatment. Fully describing effective installation of treatments is beyond the scope of this report. The following comments should be used to supplement other sources of information on the vari- ous treatments. Hillslope Treatments Hillslope treatments are implemented to keep soil place and comprise the greatest effort in moat BAER projects. Consequently, we obtained the moat infor- mation on these treatments from our interviews and monitoring reports. Aerial Seedin¢ Purpase.•Aerial seeding, usually grasses but occasion- ally also legumes, is carried out to increase vegetative cover on a burn site during the first few years after a fire. It is typically done where erosion hazard is high and native plant seed bank is believed to have been destroyed or severely reduced by the fire. Seed is applied by fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter. Relatlve Etl`ecUveness: Excellent-2490 Good-289o Fair- 289o Poor-2090 (Replies = 83) Interviewees were almost evenly divided on the effec- tiveness ratingofaerial seeding, with a slight majority regarding it as either "good' or "fair" (table 16). Re- apondenta in Regions 1, 4, and 6 were more likely to rate seeding "excellent' or "good' than respondents in Regions 3 and 5. Effectiveness depends on timeliness of seed applica- tion,choice ofseed, pilot skill, protection from grazing, and luck in having gentle rains to stimulate seed germination before wind or heavy rains blow or wash soil and seed away. Proper timing of seed application depends on location. In some areas it is best to drop seed directly into dry ash, before any rain falls, to take advantage of the fluffy seedbed condition, while in others seed is beat applied after the first snow so that it will germinate in the spring. Both conditions also reduce loan to rodents. Choice of seed determines how easily it can be applied -some grass species with long awns tend to clog in seeder buckets, and light seeds drift more than heavy ones -and how well it will grow, how long it will persist, and what impact it will have on natural regeneration. Tn general, legumes have not been found to be particularly effective at producing cover (there are exceptions). A skillful pilot will apply the seed evenly, rather than in stripe with unaeeded areas in between them, providing better ground cover once the seed germinates. A fewreapondenta also mentioned that strawmulch, needle cast, slope barriers such as straw wattles or contour-felledlogs, orripping the soil enhanced growth of seeded grasses. Maximum cover of seeded species is not attained until summer. Many respondents re- ported that seeding was not particularly effective at producing protection from the first year's storms (es- pecially in the Southwest for fires that occur just before the monsoon season with its high intensity rains) but may provide effective cover during the second and subsequent years. Several respondents suggested that waiting to seed onto snow for spring growth would be the most effective course of action in the Southwest (Region 3), because they usually ended up having to do a second seeding anyway after the summer monsoon washed the first application away. Several respondents noted disappointing results fiom seeding with relatively expensive native species or Regroen {commercially available ateri]e wheatgrass hybrid) and would not use them again. On the other hand, cereal grains were generally reported to per- form well the first growing season. Cereal grains that do not germinate in quantity the second year provide soil cover with the mulch from the dead first year growth. Both cattle and elk grazing were reported to reduce the effective cover of seeded grasses. Seeded grass cover tends to be higher on low angle elopes (less than 40 percent) than steep ones. Implementatton and Environmental Factors Many respondents reported difficulties in contracting for seed and aircraft operators which, especially after fall fires, resulted in seed being applied too late for opti- mum conditions. Ground sampling, with sticky papers ar by visual inspection, should be done to monitor seed application rate and evenness. Fixed wing aircraft maybe less expensive per application but can be leas accurate at directing seed than helicopters. The use of native seed is a major issue on many Forests. Native grass seed can be hard to acquire in large quantities or in a timely manner compared to cereal grains or pasture grasses; it is also generally more expensive. Native seed should come from a nearby source area to preserve local genetic integrity. Cereal grains will germinate and grow the second year 74 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTRb3. 2000