FLORA OF A VERNAL POOL COMPLEX IN THE MAYACMAS MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEASTERN MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Volume: 46Start Page: 38End Page: 4

Monitoring shows vegetation change at multiple scales

Several historical data sets from the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) provide valuable information on vegetation dynamics at multiple spatial and temporal scales. An early botanical survey by Harold Heady and Al Murphy provides a baseline for examining landscape-level changes in species richness and distribution over 50 years. We conducted a floristic survey between 1995 and 1999 and found gains and losses of native and non-native species abundance across the field station. On two sites where sheep were removed in 1958, permanent transects provide valuable information about plant community responses to protection from livestock grazing; in the oak understory, native perennial blue wildrye increased steadily, while in grasslands native purple needlegrass was less abundant after 43 years. On a cleared watershed, originally diverse in hardwood species, we found that only interior live oak and coast live oak were significantly reestablished after 30 years

Carefully timed burning can control barb goatgrass

Barb goatgrass is a noxious annual grass that is rapidly invading California's grassland ecosystems. No effective control strategies for managing barb goatgrass have been available that do not simultaneously injure other more desirable grass and broadleaf species. In our study at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, we conducted prescribed burning in late spring or early summer before barb goatgrass seeds had reached maturation. One year of prescribed burning was not sufficient to control re-establishment the following year. However, 2 years of complete burning gave effective control of barb goatgrass while increasing native perennial grass cover and native species richness, particularly legumes. The success of the goatgrass control was directly proportional to the completeness of the second-year burn