A depleted scab ridge in northeastern Oregon was treated with woodchips and nitrogen, and seeded with a mixture of hard fescue, timothy, and pubescent wheatgrass. On the deeper soils, plots receiving 1 inch woodchips disked in plus 300 lb N averaged 2,457 lb air-dry herbage/acre over a 7-year period. Control plots average 1,973 lb/acre and those receiving woodchips, but no N 1,434 lb/acre. On the shallow soils similar treatments yielded 1,193, 688, and 528 lb/acre, respectively. At 1 inch chips and 300 lb N/acre, whether the chips were disked into the soil was relatively unimportant. At 0.5 inch chips and 150 lb N/acre disking lowered yields from 1,288 lb/acre (not disked in) to 673. With time, pubescent wheatgrass increased on the deeper soils and remained constant on the shallower. Hard fescue increased and timothy decreased markedly on both soils.

Grassland soils have some quality that enables plants to respond to P fertilizer. This quality deteriorates when poplar trees advance on rangelands; it is completely destroyed when coniferous trees become the dominant vegetation. Clearing of trees and seeding of grass returns some grassland character to soil. If soil organic P is considered an index, NP fertilizers along with the grass are expected to hasten the return of the grassland character.

Weight gains per acre of yearling ewes on continuously grazed crested wheatgrass and Russian wildrye pastures averaged 21.7 and 26.3 lb, or 2.6 and 3.2 times the gain of yearling ewes on native range (8.3 lb). On rotation and free-choice systems of grazing the gains per acre averaged 16.5 and 18.5 lb, or 2.0 and 2.2 times those on native range. Over the 10-year period the seeded pastures were stocked three times as heavily as the native range. Ewes rotated themselves on the various pastures under a free-choice system, going first to crested wheatgrass, then to native range and lastly to Russian wildrye.

The actual pure seed content of eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides L.) was determined efficiently and rapidly by air separation at an air valve setting of 70 degrees with a South Dakota blower. The pure seed fraction separated in this manner contained 5 to 27% empty seed units. Germination potential of the air-blown seed was between 72 and 95%. Seeds separated by visual means contained 32 to 48% empty seed units. Chilling seeds for 6 weeks at 5 to 10 C on moist substrate before germination significantly increased germination over the check. Natural prechilling in moist soil may greatly reduce the risks of stand failure. Salt solutions of KNO3, sodium hypochlorite, and ethylene chlorohydrin did not promote germination. Fall seedings in either October or November were found to be more desirable than spring seedings. Difficulties in establishing stands of eastern gamagrass may have been in part due to the inability to separate true seeds from nonviable inert material. When seed of known quality is planted in the fall, good to excellent stands can be obtained.

Applications of nitrogen fertilizer increased yields and protein content of Western Nebraska range forage. Amounts of acid extractable phosphorus in the soil decreased following nitrogen fertilization. Forages from fertilized plots showed no appreciable increase in phosphorus content. Increased yields were not accompanied by major changes in available soil moisture or development of underground plant parts. This data was collected over a 1-year period under a National Science Foundation, Undergraduate Research Participation grant.

Longstalk and alsike clovers are widely distributed in many areas of the United States. These clovers have similar growth requirements and often grow side by side. Longstalk, a valuable native range plant, on the basis of mineral and proximate composition appears to be equal to alsike clover in all respects, but not markedly superior. Both clovers are good pasture, range, and hay plants. They are highly palatable, and furnish nutritious forage for livestock and game animals.

Bitterbrush density in a known-parameter population was estimated using 19 different variations of quadrat and plotless sampling techniques. It was found that: (1) Many methods would not produce a correct answer with any size sample; (2) all methods required unreasonably large samples to attain acceptable precision; and (3) several methods required more effort than counting all plants on 1 to 2 acres. It is suggested that visual estimation techniques or nonrandom sampling methods may provide a more realistic approach to the density sampling problem.