/ CIRCULAR NO. 178 AUGUST, 1931 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. 



ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN 

 RANGE LANDS ' 



By C. L. FoBSLiNG, Director, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Sta- 

 tion, and William A. Dayton, Plant Ecologist, In Charge of Range Forage 

 Investigations, Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 1 



Considei ations preliminary to reseeding 3 



Conditions under which artificial reseed- 

 ing is practicable 3 



Cost and returns from artificial reseeding. 5 



Site conditions suitable for reseeding 11 



Moisture requirements .i 11 



Length of growing season 13 



Soil 13 



Effect of native vegetation 14 



Selection of species 14 



Cultivated and introduced creeping 



grasses 15 



Cultivated and introduced bunch grasses. 18 

 Cultivated and introduced species of non- 

 grasses 21 



Page 

 Selection of species— Continued. 



Native grasses 25 



Little-tried species 28 



Seeding to mixture 31 



The best time to seed 32 



Sowing and soil treatment 33 



Sowing and planting to check erosion 36 



Seeding eroded lands 38 



Terracing before seeding or planting 41 



Transplanting to check erosion 42 



Future possibilities in artificial reseeding 43 



Summary 43 



Check list of common and scientific names 



used 45 



Literature cited -.. 46 



INTRODUCTION 



Range lands in the western United States are subject, on the 

 whole, to severe climatic conditions. The natural vegetation repre- 

 sents a survival of the fittest, particularly on the higher and the more 

 arid ranges. Most of this range receives too scanty fall of rain or 

 snow to support a complete ground cover. Through heavy use the 

 carrying capacity of large portions of these range lands has been 

 lowered, by destruction or lessening of the stand of the most palata- 

 ble species and by the increase in the stand of inferior, worthless, and 

 poisonous plants. The productivity has been further lessened in 

 many cases by concomitant soil impoverishment and erosion and by 



^ The information contained in this circular is based largely upon results of experiments 

 in artificial reseeding conducted on national-forest lands in the western United States 

 since 1902. Ttie most significant of these investigations up to 1912 are those reported by 

 Griffiths, Cotton, and Sampson in the publications listed respectively as Nos. 10, 5, and 

 29 under Literature cited, p. 46. Sampson's work is now out of print, and numerous 

 experiments have been conducted since 1912, particularly in central Utah by the Inter- 

 mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. The object of this circular is to take 

 the place of the earlier bulletin by Sampson and in addition to present such later informa- 

 tion as is applicable to mountain range lands or those of similar growth characteristics 

 in the West. The material in the earlier publication has been drawn upon freely, without 

 specific reference to all points included in this circular. Many members of the Forest 

 Service have generously supplied information or otherwise aided in the preparation of this 

 circular, and the writers gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness for this assistance. 



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