Ecological land units of Bear Creek watershed and their relationship to water quality

During 1975 and 1976 a sedimentation study was conducted in the Bear Creek watershed, located in the southeastern corner of central Oregon's Crook County. A Rocky Mountain infiltrometer was used to simulate high intensity rainfall over 468 sedimentation plots. Rainfall and runoff were measured and a sample of the runoff was collected to determine the sediment potentials. The Bear Creek watershed was divided into eight ecological land units which were further refined into 14 tentative habitat types and four unclassified communities. These divisions are based upon an association table developed from vegetation and soil field data. One- and two-factor analysis of variance was used to analyze the differences within habitat types, between habitat types within a unit, and when appropriate, between treatments or ecological condition within the habitat type or unit. Tractor logging in the mixed forest unit caused a significant increase in soil loss. Non-forest units exhibited a high natural variability in sediment production within the site tended to override any differences that may have resulted from a management treatment. Significant differences that did occur appeared to be closely related to differences in soils or ecologic condition. Wildland watershed managerial implications are explored in the summary section.KEY WORDS : Ecological Land Units, Bear Creek Watershed, Water Quality, Sediment Potential, Runoff, Watershed Management

Hydrologic outputs from woodland, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems in relation to grazing management strategies : an annotated bibliography

Published September 1981. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Wildland Watershed Management Short Course

Published July 1988. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Western Land Managers will Need all Available Tools for Adapting to Climate Change, Including Grazing: A Critique of Beschta et al.

In a previous article, Beschta et al. (Environ Manag 51(2):474–491, 2013) argue that grazing by large ungulates (both native and domestic) should be eliminated or greatly reduced on western public lands to reduce potential climate change impacts. The authors did not present a balanced synthesis of the scientific literature, and their publication is more of an opinion article. Their conclusions do not reflect the complexities associated with herbivore grazing. Because grazing is a complex ecological process, synthesis of the scientific literature can be a challenge. Legacy effects of uncontrolled grazing during the homestead era further complicate analysis of current grazing impacts. Interactions of climate change and grazing will depend on the specific situation. For example, increasing atmospheric CO₂ and temperatures may increase accumulation of fine fuels (primarily grasses) and thus increase wildfire risk. Prescribed grazing by livestock is one of the few management tools available for reducing fine fuel accumulation. While there are certainly points on the landscape where herbivore impacts can be identified, there are also vast grazed areas where impacts are minimal. Broad scale reduction of domestic and wild herbivores to help native plant communities cope with climate change will be unnecessary because over the past 20–50 years land managers have actively sought to bring populations of native and domestic herbivores in balance with the potential of vegetation and soils. To cope with a changing climate, land managers will need access to all available vegetation management tools, including grazing.Keywords: Grazing, Riparian areas, Public lands, Climate chang

Proceedings, Western juniper management short course, October 15-16, 1984, Bend, Oregon

Published 1984. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

President’s Address: Rangelands

This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management, the National Agricultural Library, and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform March 202