Emigrant Creek cattle allotment : lessons from 30 years of photomonitoring / Frederick C. Hall.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Hall, Frederick C.

Contributor:

Pacific Northwest Research Station (Portland, Or.)

Series:

General technical report PNW ; 639.

General technical report PNW ; 639

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cattle--Monitoring--United States.

Cattle.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (44 pages)

Place of Publication:

[Portland, OR] : USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, [2005]

Summary:

"Emigrant Creek cattle allotment is located 48 km northwest of Burns, Oregon. It was photo sampled at nine original sites, starting in 1975. Photos were taken three times per year: June 15 prior to cattle grazing, August 1 at pasture rotation, and October 1 at the end of grazing. An additional four photopoints were established following disturbance from flooding and beavers. Results reported here cover 30 years, 1975 to 2005. Cattle did not significantly impact the riparian area. Beavers (Castor canadensis) arrived in 1984 and departed in 1994. They seriously reduced aboveground willow biomass by harvesting stems for food and dam construction. Dams raised the water table causing a dry meadow to become moist, and increased water in a wet meadow that inhibited willow growth. Beaver departure in 1994 left dams unmaintained. A 50-year flood event in February 1996 eroded dams and created a new channel. The water table was reduced below that of the 1984 levels, causing a dry meadow to revert to pre-1984 conditions and permitting willows to vigorously expand in a wet meadow. Dynamic riverine riparian environmental conditions seriously challenge the typical range management concepts of S2condition and trend. S3 There is no S2climax good condition. S3 Instead a S2state-and-transitionS3 concept seems a more apt range management concept to describe range conditions resulting from beaver dams and flooding over a 30-year period on Emigrant Creek cattle allotment."

Contents:

Concept of range condition and trend

Livestock use

Gopher activity

Flood of May 21, 1984

Elluvial fan, Lower Emigrant Creek

Beaver dams

New stream channel, Pole Camp

Measurement of change by grids

Lower emigrant pasture

Thirty years change: Lower Emigrant

Seasonal change: Pole Camp Dry Meadow

Condition and trend: Button Meadow, East Pasture

Condition and trend: Pole Camp Dry Meadow

Names of plants.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed on Apr 27, 2006).

"PNW-GTR-639."

"June 2005."

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010.

Other Format:

Emigrant Creek cattle allotment

OCLC:

67780905

Access Restriction:

Use copy Restrictions unspecified