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r Comments on Salt Creek Seed Formula Tha aPad formula of :'0 the/acre is tuo high for the precipitation available in tha ar2a, espacially in the laver elevations Where the majority of the disturbance rill take place. A more reasonable number rould he from 10, maybe up to 15 lbs/acre, under dry land conditions. You are proposing to seed Sporoholus airoides at about 54 seed/sq. ft. Your are proposing to seed Sporobolus cryptan~rus at about 65 seeds/sq. ft. The remaining grass species are proposed at shout 53 seeds/sq.ft. This is a total of 1:~ seeds/aq.ft., and this is ]ust for the grasses. Assuming that one or tvo of the species are aggressive competitors, you are reducing your chances of meeting a diversity goal. These rates are, in my opinion, to high. I have little experience rith the forbs you are proposing, but the Palmer penetemon ie to be Beaded at 3.5 eeede/sq.ft. and the kocky Mountain penstemon is to be seeded at 5 seeds/eq.ft. You are proposing to uee containerized planting for the shrub species duo to poor survival rates for shrubs planted using direct seeding. The Grand Junction Resource Area hoe been direct seeding Atriplex canescens, Atriplex confertifolia, Chryeothamnua nauaeoaua, Amelanichier alnifolia, and Cercocarnue montanus for at least the lest ten years. We have met vith lees than acceptable success in many cases vith the Serviceberry and the mountain mahogany. Horever, ve have had very good success vith the salthush and rabbithrush species mentioned. Success, although controlled by many Sactors seems related to competition vith the aggressive grass species. On the 1lencoe desert competition hetveen the aalthuehes and crested wheetgraes is apparent. If the number of individuals of crested rheetgrase is limited or eliminated, in general the saltbushes succeed much more often. I believe that poor survival rates of other seeded shrubs, such as true mountain mahogany and Serviceberry are related to competition as rell. Since mast grssa species do very poorly on Nancoe desert and other highly erid areas, they offer little competition to the shrubs and thus the shruha increase their success (as noted above crested vheatgrass vill compete in some cases). In the higher elevations and higher precipitation areas the grasses vill compete vith shrubs to a greater degree, thus reducing the success of the shrubs. Containerized planting in these areas vill not necessarily prevent the competition. Although the container plantings may survive, competition rill greatly reduce production and grorth of the shruha in many situations. If your goal is to have eucceesful shruha you may rant to reduce the number of lndlvidual grass species or eliminate grass species in the immediate area that shrubs are planted. Grace offers a quick cover vhich greatly reduces the rate of erosion, so it may be a tradeoff betreen soil protection, and diversity and shrub production. Shrub production and diversity may not he as important a goal es soil protection, especially vhere the acres of disturbed area may he small.