Seeding Herbs to Enhance Cervid Forage and Reforestation in Pacific Northwest Conifer Forests |
| |
| Abstract: | Forage seeding, seeding grasses and legumes in conifer plantations, has been touted as a method of simultaneously improving elk (Cervus elaphus) and black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) nutrition and forest regeneration. When suited to local physiographical and biological conditions forage seeding may (1) increase the nutritional quality and biomass of forage preferred by cervids and (2) reduce the establishment of seral vegetation that competes with conifer seedlings. The effectiveness of forage seeding in reducing conifer browsing by cervids remains questionable. In the past, forage seeding programs have been implemented over wide geographic areas far beyond experimental study sites; many of these have had limited success. In addition, the effects of forage seeding on cervid biology and reforestation have not been rigorously tested. Thus, if forage seeding programs are implemented, it should be done so cautiously with the expectation that the outcome may differ markedly from prior experimental results. We outline criteria for selecting sites for forage seeding programs and prescribe methods for optimizing the seeding of forages. We offer guidelines for designing large-scale forage seeding research to infer treatment differences to a representative population of clearcuts with a specific set of clearly defined site conditions and management objectives. For situations where such large-scale experimentation is prohibitive, we outline research questions we believe are both important and can be answered in small-plot studies. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
