Sheep Grazing as a Grassland Management Tool: Lessons Learned on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

Beattie, Karen C.; Karberg, Jennifer M.; Omand, Kelly A.; O'Dell, Danielle I.

doi:10.1656/045.024.0sp805

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Increased growing season grazing has the potential to reduce woody cover, but results of recent attempts to employ sheep, goats, and cattle in existing sandplain grasslands had mixed results. The complexity and variability of grazing for management makes general assessment difficult both globally (Pulungan et al 2019; Gao & Carmel 2020) and in sandplain grasslands (Beattie et al 2017), but the multiple variables involved in managing grazing make this an ideal situation for experimentation and adaptive management (AM). Logistical constraints and costs will likely limit widespread use of grazing and prescribed fire.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Bois,

Neill,

Whittemore

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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A high proportion of regional plant biodiversity occurs in hotspots of species richness that cover small areas created and maintained by disturbance. Sustaining plant diversity in these areas requires region‐ and habitat‐specific management of disturbance and, increasingly, habitat expansion or restoration to offset species losses. Coastal sandplain grasslands are threatened, disturbance‐controlled plant biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States. We formed a network of grassland managers and scientists to review the published and unpublished sandplain grassland literature. Additionally, we conducted interviews with grassland managers about management challenges and successes. Principal concerns of managers were increases in woody plant cover, losses of rare species, increased cover and variety of invasive species, and constraints on the ability to use prescribed fire. The literature review and managers' experiences together led to the following recommendations: (1) increase applications of prescribed burning and mowing during the growing season when possible; (2) expand selective removal of woody plants including herbicide use; (3) test the application of harrowing or disking to reduce woody plant density especially in places where invasive plant densities are low; and (4) increase applications of combinations of disturbances in rotations with occasional fire. At regional scales, monitoring of management effects, identification of parcels for potential grassland expansion and restoration, and increased supplies of native seeds of plant ecotypes to use for restoration ahead of climate change are badly needed. Formation of networks of managers and scientists to share information and experiences has the potential to greatly improve land management within other biodiversity hotspots.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Bois,

Neill,

Whittemore

et al. 2023

Restoration Ecology

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“…A variety of projects in New York and surrounding states have successfully applied such management tools as removing tree cover, managing disturbances through mechanical harvest, fire, and selective grazing, and reintroducing key plant and animal species (Albany Pine Bush Commission, 2017 ; Beattie et al, 2017 ; Bried et al, 2015 ; Malcolm et al, 2008 ; Pfitsch & Williams, 2009 ; B. Hawthorne, personal communication). For example, removal of white pine trees at Rome Sand Plains boosted the populations of wild blue lupine plants and the threatened frosted elfin butterfly (Pfitsch & Williams, 2009 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing examples of these pine barren and sand plain ecosystems-in the three regions we examined in detail and elsewhere-were mostly embedded within much larger matrices of forest, agriculture, and urban land cover that shared the distinctive deep sandy soils. These larger matrices, found throughout the state, offer opportunities to restore deep, sandy soils to opencanopied conditions that support these unique ecosystems and the rare and vulnerable plants and animals they host.A variety of projects in New York and surrounding states have successfully applied such management tools as removing tree cover, managing disturbances through mechanical harvest, fire, and selective grazing, and reintroducing key plant and animal species (Albany Pine Bush Commission, 2017;Beattie et al, 2017;Bried et al, 2015;Malcolm et al, 2008;Pfitsch & Williams, 2009; B. Hawthorne, personal communication). For example, removal of white pine trees at Rome Sand Plains boosted the populations of wild blue lupine plants and the threatened frosted elfin butterfly(Pfitsch & Williams, 2009).Similarly, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission has greatly expanded pine barren habitat and population sizes of the endangered Karner blue butterfly by removing hardwood trees and reintroducing fire(Albany Pine Bush Commission, 2017;Bried et al, 2015;Gifford et al, 2020) and prescribed fire and brush cutting has enabled the successful reintroduction of the Karner blue to the Concord (NH)…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping edaphic soils' conditions to identify conservation targets for pine barren and sandplain ecosystems in New York State

Corbin

Flatland

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Small habitat patches can be important reservoirs for biodiversity, capable of hosting unique species that are largely absent from the surrounding landscape. In cases where such patches owe their existence to the presence of particular soil types or hydrologic conditions, local‐scale edaphic variables may be more effective components for models that identify patch location than regional‐scale macroclimatic variables often used in habitat and species distribution models. We modeled the edaphic soil conditions that support pine barren, sandplain, and related ecosystems in New York State with the purpose of identifying potential locations for biodiversity conservation. We quantified soil percent sand and soil depth of 156 known high‐quality remnant pine barren and sandplain ecosystems to calculate threshold soil characteristics. We then mapped all soils in the state that were at least as sandy and deep as the threshold values we calculated. The total area of our map of suitable soil conditions was over 9500 km 2 , made up of forested (57%), urban (26%), agricultural (13%), and open (4%) land covers. Our analysis nearly doubled the recognized area of barren, shrubland, and grassland habitat on deep, sandy soils in New York State. Extensive forested and even agricultural cover on these soils could also be the subject of restoration to further support the biodiversity of these unique ecosystems. The presence of extensive soils in coastal and interior New York that, with the appropriate disturbance regime, have the potential to host pine barren and sandplain ecosystems offers a new perspective on these ecosystems' distribution in the past—and about how to better align conservation and restoration to preserve the future.

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“…Since 1932, an average of 3.8 hectares per year of grassland has been lost to coastal scrub habitat (793 hectares in 1932 to 525 hectares in 2004 and an estimate of 478 hectares in 2014) (Weiss et al 2015). Today, grassland habitats are maintained through manual and chemical scrub control because of the constraints of applying prescribed fire in an urban-wildland interface and due to the cost of controlled burns and grazing (Beattie et al 2017, Ormshaw 2018. Managers of San Bruno Mountain target shrubs like coyote brush or fennel using hand tools, brush cutters, or herbicide (Ormshaw 2018).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant-pollinator interactions across California grassland and coastal scrub vegetation types on San Bruno Mountain, San Mateo County

Brooks¹

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Animal pollination of plants is a crucial ecosystem service for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function, worldwide. High pollinator abundance and diversity can likewise improve the reproductive success of the plant community. Plant-pollinator interaction networks have the potential to identify dominant, specialist, and generalist pollinator species within a system, and their host plant counterparts. Understanding these relationships is paramount for buffering natural systems from biodiversity loss in a world where pollinator abundance continues to decline rapidly. San Bruno Mountain (SBM) in San Mateo County, California, is one of the last natural, open spaces in the urban landscape in the northern San Francisco Peninsula. I conducted a series of timed meanders and vegetation surveys at eight sample sites within SBM (four grassland and four coastal scrub sites) to identify plant species prevalence and pollinator species visitation of flowering plants. I employed a multivariate approach for investigating plant and pollinator species richness, plant and pollinator community composition, and trophic-level interactions across the SBM landscape, and I evaluated differences in these relationships between grassland and coastal scrub habitats. A total of 59 pollinator species and 135 plant species were inventoried over the course of the study. While species richness did not vary significantly between vegetation types, the nonmetric multidimensional scaling results revealed significant differences in species composition and key indicator species between vegetation types. The bipartite analyses identified Bombus vosnesenskii, Eriophyllum stachaedifolium, Grindelia hirsutula and others as generalist pollinator and plant species that are 4 important for the long-term biodiversity conservation of SBM due to their interactions with a diverse array of other plant and pollinator taxa. In the future, adaptive restoration activities could be used at SBM and other similar habitats to bolster the abundance of herbaceous flowering plants for pollinators to conserve biodiversity and promote ecosystem health in a world that continues to experience declines in pollinator abundance.

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Sheep Grazing as a Grassland Management Tool: Lessons Learned on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts

Cited by 7 publications

References 25 publications

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Challenges, successes, and recommendations for management of coastal sandplain grasslands as regional biodiversity hotspots in the northeastern United States

Mapping edaphic soils' conditions to identify conservation targets for pine barren and sandplain ecosystems in New York State

Plant-pollinator interactions across California grassland and coastal scrub vegetation types on San Bruno Mountain, San Mateo County

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