Restorationists often hope and expect that wildlife will increase in abundance and diversity when “native” habitats are restored, but this assumption has not been well-investigated for most wildlife species, particularly in grasslands, and even more so in the Central Valley of California. From 2014 to 2015 I conducted a rather ambitious spatiotemporally replicated natural experiment investigating wildlife…
Tag: weeds
Rodents, Snakes, and Raptors, oh my!
Wildlife responses to grassland restoration are perhaps more complex and less predictable than previously thought. I gave the most complete presentation of the results of my wildlife-grassland restoration research in an invited talk to the Sacramento-Shasta Chapter of The Wildlife Society (Invited Talk Flyer) at end of August, and the presentation can be found here. While more analyses…
2016 PlantRight Plant List – Suggested Alternatives for Invasive Garden Plants
Sustainable Conservation and PlantRight have partnered to work on reducing invasive plants that are sold or traded in the horticultural industry. As a contractor and partner with these two great organizations, I wanted to share their most recent update for 2016!: We are excited to share the 2016 PlantRight Plant List which you may view or download, here….
Livestock-Recreation Interactions Elkhorn Slough Coastal Training Program Workshop
“Grazing is not only compatible, it is mandatory.” – Consultant On September 29th, cooperative extension specialists, public land agency managers, consultants, and graziers met in Santa Clara for a workshop I led on compatibility of livestock grazing and recreation on public lands. As livestock grazing on the coast moves increasingly into the public land forum and recreational…
Can summer watering alter seasonal priority effects and reduce the annual grass weed challenge in a restored grassland?
This post will describe the background, rationale, methods, and some preliminary results for a series of summer watering experiments that I conducted over two years to determine if summer watering in an already restored grassland can produce a strong enough weed flush (exotic annual grasses) to reduce weed challenges in the subsequent growing season. Please see my other…
Can summer watering to flush annuals reduce exotic cover in restored grasslands?
Hi all, This is a link to a research project in which I manipulated timing and intensity of watering to see if summer watering in an already restored grassland could cause a flush of annual grass weeds, and subsequently reduce weed challenges in the following growing season. This talk was given in May at the Society…
