Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
Mechanical treatments of rangelands are designed to increase water infiltration and increase forage quantity and quality. Storing precipitation where it falls is important to stabilize in annual forage production, especially on sites with water uptake problems due to slope, shortgrass sod cover and/or high salt concentrations in the upper horizons Soil moisture and vegetation data accumulated over five growing seasons following mechanical renovation of Thin Claypan range sites indicate a great potential exists for increasing range carrying capacity. Both soil moisture and forage production can be improved