10-06-13 Restoration Update

10-06-13 Restoration Update

October 14, 2013

Dan Mummey shares an update on weed control, seeding, and restoration efforts.

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The beginning of the end of fallow period for the ugly crested wheatgrass and cheatgrass areas started this week. Site preparation continues and fall seeding has begun!

We sprayed this 120 acre area with imazapic to control leafy spurge and crested wheatgrass seedlings. Sainfoin and Clearfield winter wheat tolerate imazapic and will be sown this fall. Additional herbicide treatments in this area will be limited to spotspraying.

We will sow native species in these areas this fall. Small leafy spurge patches that could compromise our restoration were spot-sprayed with imazapic to limit residual herbicide activity to small areas.

Soils in this area are high in nutrients and salts. Here we seek to use winter wheat and sainfoin to reduce soil nutrients, decrease weeds, and produce forage for elk and other ungulates. We sowed winter wheat into the sainfoin interspaces this week.

Stockpen High nutrient and salt concentrations impede plant establishment here. Sainfoin established spottily after a previous seeding. Winter wheat and sainfoin were drill-seeded to thicken stands, deplete nutrients, compete with weeds, and increase forage.

Our concern that the soybean field would succumb to frost and rot on the ground was unfounded. The elk herd reduced most soybean plants to stems within two days. Farmers often complain about elk damaging crops. I get it now.

We plant different food crops to produce wildlife forage through the fall season. Alfalfa is the first to go. Wheat and corn are consumed later in the season. Elk discovered the sunflowers soon after seeds ripened last year. This treat didn’t last long. Corn hid the sunflowers from browsers this year and most of the protein-rich seed remains.

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