Long-term Recovery of Wyoming Big Sagebrush After Four Treatments

Watts, Myles J.; Wambolt, Carl L.

doi:10.1006/jema.1996.0009

Cited by 54 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Postfire recovery periods range from 10 to . 30 yr in mountain big sagebrush and can exceed 50-100 yr for Wyoming big sagebrush communities (Watts and Wambolt 1996;Lesica et al 2007;Baker 2011). More than 100 yr may be required to recover entire sagebrush landscapes (Hemstrom et al 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistence of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) Resource Islands Following Canopy Removal

Miwa

Reuter

2010

Northwest Science

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persistence of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) Resource Islands Following Canopy Removal

Miwa

Reuter

2010

Northwest Science

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“…For example, disturbances such as fire affect surface soil characteristics of shrub and intershrub microsites and thereby can influence plant community recovery (Sankey et al 2012). Watts and Wambolt (1996) studied recovery in four different types of disturbance treatments, and their results suggested that Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities recover at different rates depending upon disturbance type. Predisturbance plant community composition and cover, along with seed availability, have been documented to be important to recovery after disturbance (Anderson and Inouye 2001, Bates et al 2009, Condon et al 2011.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sagebrush steppe recovery on 30–90‐year‐old abandoned oil and gas wells

Avirmed¹,

Lauenroth²,

Burke³

et al. 2015

Ecosphere

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Abstract. Oil and natural gas extraction is rapidly expanding in semiarid intermountain big sagebrush ecosystems of the western USA. Formerly covering over 60 million ha, this ecosystem has lost almost half its area due to land use changes. In this study, we measured the natural recovery of the big sagebrush plant community across a chronosequence of 29 oil and gas well sites that were abandoned without reclamation between 1923 and 1980. We measured big sagebrush cover and density with strip transects inside and outside of the well sites, and we estimated big sagebrush biomass using both canopy measurements and allometric equations. Cover of other shrubs, grasses, and forbs was estimated with line transects inside and outside of well sites. We estimated that it takes at least 87 years for Wyoming big sagebrush cover to recover naturally, although big sagebrush density recovered in fewer than 70 years. Grasses and nonsagebrush shrubs recovered rapidly, shown by the high cover of those groups in the youngest sites. We found none of the invasive plants that are common in disturbed big sagebrush communities in other parts of the big sagebrush range. The forbs that account for the largest portion of plant species richness in semiarid ecosystems and promote consumer diversity showed very little indication of recovery after 87 years. Our results suggest that reclamation efforts in disturbed big sagebrush plant communities in southwestern Wyoming should target big sagebrush and forbs.

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“…This implies that recovery of sagebrush will occur soon after burning. However, research on a variety of sagebrush control treatments in south-western Montana (McNeal, 1984;Wambolt and Payne, 1986;Watts and Wambolt, 1989;Fraas et al, 1992;Wambolt and Watts, 1996;Watts and Wambolt, 1996; and south-eastern Idaho (Harniss and Murray, 1973) found that big sagebrush recovery was prolonged, with completion sometimes taking as long as 30 years. This was true even in the absence of heavy browsing which further suppresses recovery (Wambolt, 1996;Wambolt and Sherwood, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%