search or management experience to identify 

 what practices should be applied. In addition, 

 team leaders provided available backup infor- 

 mation and research findings from outside 

 sources. In the Sagebrush ecosystem, for ex- 

 ample, information was provided from the co- 

 operatively developed Vale Project in Oregon. 

 The Vale Project is a large range rehabilita- 

 tion project on Federal range administered by 

 the Bureau of Land Management where sage- 

 brush was replaced with crested wheatgrass. 

 Range ^practices used to develop management 

 strategies: 



1. Fertilization. — The application of nutri- 

 ents to the soil that will improve production of 

 herbage. The per acre cost of fertilization for 

 each ecosystem was based on the pounds of 

 nutrients applied to the soil. 



2. Irrigation. This practice was designed to 

 supply water to areas that were deficient in 

 moisture. Examples of irrigation systems used 

 in the practice were sprinklers, ditches, and 

 waterspreading, 



3. Drainage. This practice centers around 

 draining or lowering the water level on 

 marshes, bogs, or other areas that sustain 

 standing surface water for long periods of 

 time. Lands in these categories generally can 

 be treated mechanically to remove the water, 

 thus allowing use by livestock and wildlife. 



4. Brush control-mechanical. This practice 

 includes all brush control work accomplished 

 by a mechanical means. It includes such treat- 

 ments as plowing, chaining, pushing, disking, 

 root plowing, crushing, and cutting. Brush 

 control varies by ecosystem and includes such 

 species as sagebrush, rabbitbrush, mesquite, 

 piny on, juniper, chaparral, and oakbrush. 

 Follow-up seeding, when required, was included 

 in practice Number 11, Seeding. Brush control 

 on timber types is the control of brush after 

 clear-cutting and the control of understory 

 brush in timber stands. 



5. Brush control-chemical. This practice in- 

 cludes those areas where herbicides are used 

 as a primary agent for control of brush species. 

 Application can be by air or surface techniques 

 and in the form of liquids or solids. 



6. Brush control-biological. Biological con- 

 trol pertains to the use of insect, fungi, virus, 

 or other biological measures in the control of 

 brush species. 



7. Brush control-fire. Fire is used as a means 

 of controlling brush. It may also be used to 

 improve the availability of browse. When seed- 

 ing was required in the follow-up sequence, it 

 was included in practice Number 11, Seeding. 



8. Debris disposal. This is the disposal of 

 material following some other treatment to 

 improve esthetics, increase forage yield, or to 

 reduce fire hazard. It includes burning, crush- 

 ing, beating, and chaining. 



9. Undesirable forb control. This is the ap- 

 lication of methods aimed at eradication or 

 control of undesirable herbaceous range plants. 

 It includes noxious farm weeds, poisonous 

 plants, and other species such as fiddleneck, 

 knotweed, false-hellebore, tarweed, and wy- 

 ethia. Control is by chemical, biological, fire, 

 or mechanical means. 



10. Mechanical soil treatments. This is the 

 physical disturbance of the soil through prac- 

 tices such as chiseling, pitting, contour furrow- 

 ing, or other mechanical means. These practices 

 were designed to accomplish a variety of objec- 

 tives such as preparing a seed bed, increasing 

 water infiltration, controlling erosion, and im- 

 proving microclimate. 



11. Seeding. This practice included all seed- 

 ing. Where seeding was done in conjunction 

 with plant control or other practice, it was 

 included under this item. Seeding methods 

 include drilling, broadcasting, and/or other 

 techniques. 



12. Prescribed burn for forage improvement. 

 This includes burning for the purpose of re- 

 moving rough herbaceous residue, improving 

 nutrient content, and increasing production. 



13. Rodent control. This is the reduction of 

 rodent populations that are detrimental to the 

 range resource. Control programs are carried 

 out primarily in conjunction with range seed- 

 ing projects or in areas where rodent popula- 

 tion density is great enough to cause range 

 deterioration. 



14. Insect and disease control. This is the 

 reduction of insect populations and diseases 

 that affect the range resources adversely. Grass- 

 hoppers, grassbugs, and rusts are examples. All 

 treatment methods are included in this cate- 

 gory. 



15. Small water developments. Included in 

 this practice are earth dam and pits, small 

 spring developments, shallow wells, and wild- 

 life "guzzlers" which would make a single 

 stockwatering site. A battery of troughs for 

 watering sheep is counted as one stockwatering 

 site. 



16. Large water developments. Included in 

 this practice are wells, trick tanks, spring de- 

 velopments, seeps, and ditches generally involv- 

 ing water storage and distribution systems. For 

 example, a single water source with three 

 watering sites dispersed along four miles of 

 pipeline would be counted as three watering 

 sites. 



17. Fences. This practice includes all types 

 of range fences such as let-down or log type 

 fences in the heavier snow areas and barbed 

 wire, steel post type fences in the plains. 



18. Timber thinning. This is the removal of 

 suppressed, deformed, or otherwise poor qual- 

 ity trees from a commercial timber stand to 

 provide space for the remaining trees. Only that 



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