Every mountainous part of the West has its particular breed of 

 mountain bunchgrass; thus, green fescue is the mountain bunch- 

 grass of the Blue Mountain country of northeastern Oregon and 

 southeastern Washington. Lambs fed on these ranges are famous 

 for condition and the high market prices they command. Few 

 sights are more pleasing to the eye than high knolls and ridges 

 covered with a fine stand of green fescue. The rich green hue of 

 the foliage contrasts strikingly with the bright bluish-purple heads. 



Green fescue distinctly a plant of the Northwest ranges from 

 British Columbia to Alberta, western Montana, Nevada, and cen- 

 tral California, growing typically within the spruce-fir belt near 

 timberline, mostly above 6,000 feet, although a few specimens have 

 been collected as low as 5,000 feet. Although not widely distributed, 

 it is often abundant on the better drained soils of plateaus, slopes, 

 ridges, parks, and glades and in mountain meadows where it in- 

 habits deep, sandy, gravelly, or clayey loams. 



Throughout its range, green fescue furnishes an abundance, of 

 very palatable and nutritious feed. More recent palatability studies 

 on the Wenatchee National Forest in central Washington show that 

 this grass is relished by all classes of livestock throughout the entire 

 grazing season, although sheep, which graze the leafage of this plant 

 more than that of most other grasses, tend to discriminate against 

 it during the late fall. Green fescue is very nutritious; chemical 

 analyses indicate that it ranks with the wheatgrasses in food value 

 and, when mature, with timothy hay in nutritiousness. 1 Green fescue 

 has been reduced measurably on many ranges in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington because of its high palatability. Attention was directed to- 

 ward depleted green fescue ranges on the Wallowa National Forest, 

 in northeastern Oregon, during the early days of the Forest Service, 

 and a scientific investigation followed. 2 The practical application to 

 range management of the principles thus evolved on the Wallowa 

 National Forest marked the beginning of the deferred and rotation 

 grazing systems on western national forests. 



Green fescue grows typically in densely tufted bunches, but even in very 

 dense stands does not make a complete cover, and usually the tufts are inter- 

 mixed with many other forage plants. This bunchgrass produces numerous 

 coarse extensive roots which bind the surface soil and often penetrate to a 

 depth of 3 feet, or more. These deep, matted roots form effective impediment? 

 against erosion and enable the plants to survive more or less protracted 

 droughts. Green fescue, a dense, tufted perennial with an abundance of soft, 

 long-folded or inrolled leaves, grows in tussocks of from 3 t<> 12 inches in 

 diameter and attains heights of from 1 to 3% feet. The panicles are from A 

 to 6 inches long and somewhat open. Spikelets are three- to six-flowered, pale 

 or purplish in color. This grass produces an abundance of seed, but Sampson ' 

 has found that the viability is low ; the average germination for laboratory 

 tests was 12.2 percent, although field trials gave a much higher percentage. 

 Preliminary range reseeding experiments with green fescue in the Wasatch 

 Mountain region have been failures. 3 



1 Sampson, A. W. IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS: THEIR LIFE HISTORY AND FORAGE VALUE. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 545, 63 pp., illus. 1917. 



2 Sampson, A. W. NATURAL REVEGETATIOX OF RANGE LANDS BASED UPON GROWTH REQUIRE- 

 MENTS AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE VEGETATION. .Tour. Asr. Research [U. S.] 3 : 93-148, 

 illus. 1914. 



3 Forsling, C. L., and Dayton, W. A. ARTIFICIAL KESEEDING ON WESTKUX MOUNTAIN 

 RANGE LANDS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 178, 48 pp., illus. 1931. 



