PERMFILE103876 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4. Shrub transalanting studies. Our goal in setting up this study was to simulate the aspect, • topography, and soils on the major area to be mined on the Colosvyo site. The revegetation test plot is located on an 18yo north-facing slope at an elevation of 7400 feet. The surface of the study site was prepared by removing the brush; then stripping off the top o^e inch of soil to remove roots, rhizomes, and sod. After the stripping operations, the top one foot of soil was thoroughly mixed by removing , the soil from one area of the plot and redistributing it over another. The revegetation plot was fenced with a 9-foot deer fence and a 4-foot rodent fence with 2 feet of the rodent fence buried. The term serviceberry, as used in this report, when referring to the native serviceberry shrubs on the Colowy~~ site and seed or seed- lings from these shurbs is Amelanchier alnifolia. serviceberry seed or~seedlings from other sources are not necessarily this same species. When other common names such as bitterbrush, chokecherry, oak, or snowberry are used, they are in reference to Purshia tridentata, Prunus virginiana, Quercus gambelii, and ~shoricarpos oreophilus, respectively. Other common and scientific n<smes when used in this report can be cross matched in Tables 4-6. When purchasing seed or seedlings it is very important to know , the plant species; however, this information may not be accuraie. i As an example, we intended to use mountain brome which is Bromus carinatus (Plummer et al., 1968) in all of our herbaceous seed mixes; however, the seed although purchased commercially as mountain brome was in reality smooth brome (Bromus inermis). Thus, all of our • "native" mixes now include smooth brome an introduced species) instead of mountain brome. Annual "weeds" or volunteer species are very common on disturbed sites in the mountain shrub vegetation type. .On the revegetation test plot two volunteer species were common, lambsquarter and a species of mustard. These volunteer species were pulled on repli- cation I of the individual species seedings and on the titer milkvetch study. One of the purposes of the individual species seedings was as demonstration far identification of plant species; these seedings could not serve this function if the seeded species were obscured by the volunteer species. The titer study had to be evaluated in the seedling stage, thus the weeding facilitated the evaluation of this study. Since these volunteer species will be common on a reclaimed site, it was our desire to "live" with these weeds on most of the revegetation test plot. Volunteer species will offer competition problems to seeded shrub and herbaceous species; however, it is felt that this competi- tion will be minimal. The volunteer species may serve two very valu- able functions: (1) they provide shade for seedlings during the summer; and (2) these rank volunteer species are acting as a snow fence to accumulate snow (observations by John Monarch of VTN, December 21, 1976). This snow will provide essential moisture for