Old World bluestems (Bothriochloa spp.) have been seeded on over a million hectares of marginal farmland in Oklahoma and Texas, yet we know little about their regrowth yield and quality. The objective was to determine seasonal pattern of forage regrowth yield and quality of leaves and stems of WW-Iron Master (B. ischaemum [L.] Keng) and Caucasian (B. caucasica [Trin.] C.E. Hubb.) bluestem when 4-week regrowth was harvested at weekly intervals from early May through mid-September. Four plots of each bluestem were established in each of the 4 blocks (32 plots total). Harvesting was rotated so that 4-week regrowth of each bluestem was harvested weekly from 1 of the 4 plots in each block during 1988 and 1989 to determine regrowth yield, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and crude protein (CP) of leaves and stems. Forage regrowth of both species peaked in June both years. Regrowth during August averaged 10 and 35% of June regrowth in 1988 and 1989. WW-Iron Master produced 80 and 45 % greater 4-week regrowth than Caucasian in 1988 and 1989. WW-Iron Master produced 75 and 28% greater leaf regrowth than Caucasian in 1988 and 1989 and twice as many stems both years. Leaf and stem IVDMD of WW-Iron Master averaged 2 to 6 percentage units higher than Caucasian. Leaf CP of WW-Iron Master averaged 2 percentage units higher than Caucasian during May and June. However, stem CP of WW-Iron Master averaged 1 percentage unit lower than Caucasian. Grazing management plans need to consider that the majority of bluestem forage production was restricted to a 1 month period in June. This technique of sampling 4-week regrowth every week during the growing season was an effective method for determining the seasonal regrowth pattern.

Visitors to the Big Cimarron Watershed in the Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado, had varying attitudes about cattle grazing. Without cuing, 9% of all visitors listed livestock as a source of interference. Local and rural Colorado residents tended to be more agreeable to livestock presence than other visitors in 1992; however, significant differences could not be detected the following year. No relationship existed between the prevalence of a perceived grazing-recreation conflict and visitors' home community size, nor the size of the community where they grew up. Visitors in dispersed campsites tended to be more critical of grazing than those in developed campgrounds. When given a choice, the number of visitors indicating that range livestock added to their stay (34%) was no different than the number stating a negative relationship (33%). Understanding visitor characteristics during range allotment planning may help lessen conflicts between livestock grazing and recreational usage by aiding in plan development and the design of effective interpretive programs.

In much of the west, seasonal rangeland provides important foraging opportunities for wild and domestic ungulates during times when forage is often limited. We studied the use of foraging areas by Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsonii Bailey), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus Rafinesque), and cattle grazing the same seasonal rangeland in northeastern Oregon. We determined the potential for ungulate use to overlap and the influence of vegetation and terrain features on that use. Vegetation and terrain features of plant communities in the Festuca-Agropyron and Agropyron-Poa Associations were inventoried on a 1,844 ha study area of privately owned seasonal rangeland to define characteristics of ungulate foraging areas. Slope, aspect, elevation and, edge between bunchgrass and forested vegetation types, were evaluated from topographic quadrats. Observations of ungulate distribution on the study area were also obtained. A Geographical Information System using map overlays intersected spatially defined plant communities and terrain features with location of ungulates. Indices of ungulate preference for plant communities and terrain features were established. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which features were most likely to influence ungulate selection of foraging areas. Terrain features having greatest influence on ungulate selection of foraging areas were, distance to the ecotonal edge between steppe and forest communities, and elevation. Cattle preferred foraging areas comprised of Idaho fescue-annual grass plant communities located at medium distance from the forest edge and on moderate elevation. Elk preferred foraging areas comprised of bluebunch wheatgrass-annual grass and Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass near the forest edge at higher elevations. Mule deer preferred buckwheat-bluegrass scabland plant communities at medium distance from the forest edge at higher elevation. Probability of ungulates using similar foraging areas was highest for elk and cattle and least for elk and mule deer.

Repeat photography is a valuable tool for demonstrating the effects over time of climate, management and other variables on range and forest lands. This bibliography lists 175 publications using repeat photography, with information on the ecosystems photographed, states where they are located, number of photographs, and dates when the photographs were taken. References to photography of 19 natural ecosystems, 2 cultivated ecosystems and 3 special problems are listed. The interval between photographs may be over a century or less than a year.

Seeds of 4 range grass species were evaluated to determine the effects of priming-temperature, priming-water potential, and treatment-duration on subsequent germination response at 10 degrees C. Seeds of bluebunch wheatgrass [Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh) Love], thickspike wheatgrass [Elymus lanceolatus (Scribn. and J.G. Smith) Gould; syn. Agropyron dasystachyum (Hook.) Scribn.], sandberg bluegrass (Poa sandbergii Vasey.), and bottlebrush squirreltail [Sitanion hystrix (Nutt.) J.G. Smith] were primed over the temperature range of 5 to 35 degrees C and the water potential range of 0 to -2.5 MPa for up to 10 days to determine optimal priming conditions among all treatment combinations that did not result in premature radicle emergence from the seed coat. Most rapid germination of treated seeds was obtained at priming temperatures considered optimal for germination of untreated seeds. Optimal priming conditions were found to be at water potentials equal to, or less negative than, the threshold water potential at which radicle emergence was prevented for untreated seeds. Germination response data for untreated seeds can be used to simplify the estimation of optimal temperature and water potential conditions for seed priming.

Research has been lacking on the influence of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr.) on forage production in the Chihuahuan desert. In 1964 honey mesquite was controlled (65% kill) with the herbicide, Monuron, on portions of the New Mexico State University College Ranch. Both herbicide treated and nontreated areas occur within the same pasture on similar soils and have similar grazing histories (continuous grazing, conservative stocking rate). This has resulted in areas with moderate and low levels of mesquite (16% and 9% mesquite canopy cover, respectively). We evaluated relationships among forage standing crop, vegetation canopy cover, mesquite density, mesquite height, mesquite diameter, and mesquite volume on areas with low and moderate mesquite levels in fall 1992 and spring 1993. Regression analyses showed forage standing crop and canopy cover generally were not (P > 0.10) associated with mesquite height, mesquite diameter, canopy volume, and mesquite density on either low or moderate mesquite areas. Honey mesquite canopy cover on the non-treated area was nearly double that on the treated area. Data from long term permanent transects (1968-1992) showed no differences (P > 0.10) in total forage production between low and moderate mesquite areas in fall of 1992. On these transects mesquite increases in cover and density were over 3 times greater on the low compared to moderate mesquite areas in the 1982 to 1992 period. Our data indicate mesquite density and cover increase rapidly after herbicidal mesquite control even under conservative stocking. However at canopy cover levels below 17% honey mesquite appeared to have little effect on forage production. Potential maximum canopy cover of mesquite on these types of sites is about 37%. Our data show that under proper stocking both mesquite and perennial forages grasses can increase concurrently on desert grassland ranges. We recognize that the outcome of our study may have been modified with higher mesquite densities, different soil characteristics or a lack of desirable understory species.

Botanical composition of diets and dietary overlap were investigated among free-ranging cattle (Bos taurus), Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in coniferous forests of northern Idaho. The study was conducted within the Abies grandis/Clintonia uniflora (grand fir/queencup beadlily) and Thuja plicata/Clintonia uniflora (western redcedar/queencup beadlily) habitat types. Botanical composition of ungulate diets was determined via microhistological analysis of fresh fecal samples collected in early summer, mid-summer, and early fall of 1987 and 1988. Dietary overlap was examined using Kulcyznski's similarity index. This formula also was used to compare the botanical composition of ungulate diets vs. plant community composition at 5 different seral stages: herb-shrub, sapling, pole, mature, and potential natural community. Cattle consumed graminoid-dominated diets from within early successional communities. Elk also foraged predominantly on graminoids, but elk foraging habits were more diverse and more variable amongst seasons than cattle. White-tailed deer diets were dominated by forbs and shrubs from within late successional communities. Competition for forage between cattle and elk was more likely in the grand fir habitat type, while forage competition between elk and white-tailed deer was more likely in the redcedar habitat type. There was little evidence of potential forage competition between cattle and white-tailed deer in either habitat type.