2002-07-08_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M2002004 ‎(3)‎

• Permit No: M2002004
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Date: 7/8/2002
• Doc Name: ATTACHMENT, PART 2
• From: HABITAT MGMT
• To: DRMS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Table 3. Sagebrush seedling density as affected by topsoil management, mulch type, and grass
competition, Fall 1994. (Schuman et al. 1998)
Fresh
Competition
(kgPLS ha') 0 16 32
Mulch Type
stubble 8.15 9.82 7.11
surface 12.11 4.63 5.33
stubble +
surface 9.11 3.78 4.26
control 7.22 5.88 4.56
Topsoil Management
plants M
LSD 3.00 within a mulch type within a topsoil management;
LSD =3.79 within a topsoil management within a seeding rate;
LSD 3.99 within a mulch type within a seeding rate.
Stockpiled
0 16 32
3.44 2.78 3.26
2.40 3.52 5.07
3.30 3.85 2.52
4.48 2.52 1.70
average (87 %) precipitation year. Direct - placed topsoil resulted in 40% more sagebrush seedlings
than the stockpiled topsoil treatment, and in 1992 and the spring of 1993, differences were 1 -2
orders of magnitude greater for direct - placed topsoil. Soil moisture content of the surface 7.5 cm of
direct- placed topsoil was always higher than that observed in the stockpiled topsoil treatment in
1992. This observed greater soil moisture undoubtedly improved sagebrush germination and
establishment on direct - placed topsoil in 1992. The benefits of direct - placed topsoil were only
observed in treatments where no grass was seeded. No differences in sagebrush seedling densities
were evident between the 16 and 32 kg PLS ha' grass seeding rates. However, even the lowest
seeding rate is slightly above the maximum used by the industry in their reclamation programs
(further discussion of grass seeding rate will be covered later in the paper).
Benefits of topsoil management are evident in the initial year of establishment; however,
this study did not clearly delineate some of the benefits expected. Unseeded control plots in an
adjacent study did not have any sagebrush seedlings present after 4 yrs; therefore, direct - placed
topsoil did not act as a seedbank for sagebrush nor was natural recruitment occurring (Schuman
and Booth 1998).
Even though the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal spore counts were significantly
different between the two topsoil management treatments (3088/g stockpiled vs 4500/g direct -
placed) no differences in sagebrush seedling infection was observed in the seedlings excavated in