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King Range Native Perennial Grass Program
The Arcata Field Office incorporated into its 2005 King Range National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan language that guides land managers to maintain healthy productive grasslands to encourage native species abundance and diversity when feasible; and to pursue native grass enhancement projects through an integrated approach including, but not limited to burning, grazing, reseeding, and transplanting with locally collected seed stock. Inventory of Remnant Native Stands The first tasks for the King Range Native Perennial Grass Program were to assess which native perennial grass species were still present in the King Range and to record their locations. Botanists conducted initial field inventories of native stands in the King Range in the spring of 2004.
Intensive survey areas were selected based on documentation from King Range herbarium specimens describing locations of source populations. These field surveys confirmed the locations of old populations and produced new populations of both herbarium held species and previously undocumented species for the King Range. Some species were located in coastal terrace habitat but the most diverse native stands were inland from the coastal terraces, relegated to ridgelines and other habitats with thin soils. Generally, native grasses tend to persist better than invasive annual grasses on areas of thin or nutritionally poor soils due to their deeper root systems.
Presently, the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC), under a cooperative agreement with the BLM, is conducting follow-up native grass inventories for the King Range. The continued involvement of local partners like the MRC is essential for the long term success of the King Range Native Perennial Grass Program. Twelve grass species were selected to form the original nursery collection based on the results of the surveys conducted in the spring. The initial seed collections for the nursery were carried out during the summer of 2004. Seeds were collected by hand with special consideration given to maximizing the genetic diversity of each collection. This was achieved by collecting from all known subpopulations and from a wide range of individuals within each population. Propagation efforts in the nursery began shortly after sufficient fresh seed was available for the 12 target grass species. Seeds were either sown directly into test flats or subjected to stratification (soaking the seeds in a damp medium) before being sown into seed flats. The test flats were reserved for species the literature regarded as difficult to grow. Eventually all but one species successfully germinated. Plugs (1" diameter x 6.34" depth) and tree bands (2.4" diameter x 5" depth) were prepared for future transplantation efforts. The MRC operates the current native grass nursery in Petrolia. The close proximity of this new nursery to the King Range improves the efficiency of propagation and transplantation projects. In-Situ Garden The In-Situ garden has two goals: 1) to create an accessible seed source for hard to access native perennial grass species targeted for use in local restoration; and 2) to have a controlled site to discover which species perform the best in coastal terrace prairie given variable pressures from invasive grass competition and grazing. In November 2005, after an initial disking to clear the 17,500 ft 2 area, the garden site was divided into seven grids to accommodate seven different grass monocultures. Crews of Humboldt State University Natural Resources Club volunteers and California Conservation Corps (CCC) workers came in successive weeks and planted 1,250 plugs and 2,300 tree bands, respectively, comprising seven grass species.
Presently, enhancements to colonies established in 2005 are underway as well as development of a management plan to address maintenance concerns. Paradise Fire Dozer-Line Rehabilitation Seeding
The Paradise fire, ignited by the June 21, 2008 lightning strikes, burned 981 total acres across the Paradise Ridge area of the King Range National Conservation Area. The fire was contained through the use of common firefighting methods including dozer line construction which left many acres disturbed and barren. Once created, dozer lines can become enduring features of the landscape that can be problematic from hydrological, ecological, and aesthetic standpoints. To rehabilitate and prevent invasive weed introductions, several dozer lines were hand seeded with native perennial grass species, blue wildrye ( Elymus glaucus ) and California mountain brome ( Bromus carnatus ), in October 2008. The nearly four acre site was seeded, raked, mulched, and watered over a four day period. The BLM, MRC and CCC partners all participated in the seeding effort.
Paradise R idge Prairie The Paradise Fire burned approximately 36 acres of ridgetop grassland providing the BLM with an opportunity to enhance the prairie with native grass colonies. In the fall of 2009, 12,000 plugs representing 24 colonies of 500 grasses each will be transplanted. The designated quantities for the target species are four colonies of prairie Junegrass ( Koeleria macrantha ), California melic ( Melica californica ), leafy reedgrass ( Calamagrostis foliosa ), Pacific hairgrass ( Deschampsia holciformis ), and eight colonies of California oatgrass ( Danthonia californica ) . Ten monitoring plots will be installed to quantitatively assess establishment and survival. |
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