The Palouse Prairie is somewhat ambiguous in its botanical and general physical-chemical-biological relations to other range, especially grassland, communities. This bunchgrass prairie or, if preferred, a steppe of cespitose grasses has been interpreted as a Great Plains grassland (Weaver and Albertson, 1956, ps.339-343) even though it is generally west of the Rocky Mountains not to mention the bulk of the Great Plains physiographic province. Weaver and Albertson (1956, ps. 340-341) cited other range ecologists like Clements and Heady who interpreted the Palouse Prairie as originally extending (in pre-Columbian or, at least, pre-plowing time) over portions of the Northern Great Plains as far east as the present-day states of North Dakota and South Dakota. Workers like Clements (1920, ps. 149-150) concluded that there was not a clear distinction between the Palouse Prairie and the mixed prairie of the Northern Great Plains, because this "bunch-grass prairie passes so gradually into the mixed prairie..." though the more easterly parts of bunch-grass prairie existed "[i]n the form of outposts".

Likewise, workers from Clements (1920, ps. 149-152) through Dodd (in Gould, 1968, p. 333) to Heady and Heady et al. (in Barbour and Major, 1995, ps. 493-494, 734, respectively) noted the floristic affinity between the Palouse Prairie and the original (virgin, pre-white man) Pacific or California Prairie. This relationship has been expecially obvious and noted with regard to the sharing of key species, notably Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) which is often dominant, even forming consociations, and, to lesser degree, California oatgrass (Danthonia californica) which extend from the Northern Rockies and central Coast Range to the extreme southern Pacific Coast of California. These two major grasslands, were often interpreted as closely related associations (Dodd in Gould, 1968, ps. 333-335) or, in case of Clements (1920,. p. 149), as one association, the Bunch-Grass Prairie (Agropyron-Stipa Association).

The Palouse Prairie also has floristic affinities and similar abiotic features with rough fescue (F. scabrella) prairie to the northwest and adjoining mountain grasslands and herbaceous understories of forests, especially those of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). The closest vegetation-relatedness, however, is with the bunchgrass shrub steppe, the savanna transition between the Palouse Prairie and the Great Basin Desert of the Basin and Range physiographic province. Affilitation of Palouse Prairie with other floras would be expected given diversity of land forms over relatively small land area (as indicated by numerous soil series, ecoregions, range sites, etc.). Even though the Palouse Prairie was originally "sandwiched" among various kinds of vegetation (and plant-animal communities), this grassland is notable for a rather limited number of plant species (for instance as compared to tallgrass prairie that also adjoined forests and had various savannas).

Traditionally the Palouse Prairie has been regarded as a separate or distinct grassland range type (regardless of hierarchial rank in classification of natural vegetation). In fact, it struck the current author as interesting (and revealing, though of what was not so obvious) that Palouse Prairie usually has been (is) capitalized in contrast to mixed prairie, rough fescue prairie, true prairie, etc. Obviously Palouse is a proper noun that has been widely used for promotional purposes including the name for a synthetic breed of hog developed by the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station. Palouse apparently applied to the Palouse Indians, a Shahapitan people named for the Palouse River and Palouse Hills of what is now eastern Washington and northwestern Idaho. This does not explain the common convention of capitalizing Prairie when accompanying Palouse (eg. Weaver and Abertson, 1956, ps. 339, 340; Shelford, 1963, p. 350). (Then there were those like Holechek et al. [1998 and later editions] who did not even capitalize "palouse".) The designation of a specific prairie by capitalization was a convention used in the American Midwest and South to designate local prairies ranging in size from some of only a few thousand acres to those of hundreds of thousands, or perhaps, more than a million acres. A wll-known example of the latter is the Fort Worth Prairie which is the northern part of the greater Grand Prairie. Examples of small or local prairies, often indicated by the surname of a prominent family of settlers included, Swars Prairie and Burkhart Prairie of Newton County, Missouri. Ironically many of the prairies indicated by proper names, including the Palouse Prairie, have been or are being destroyed by conversion to farm land for field crops and/or, ultimately, urbanization.

As was the case for the vast majority of grasslands in humid to semiarid regions of North America, most of the Palouse Prairie fell before the plow share which, peaceful or otherwise, proved to be every bit as destructive as the sword. Much of this plowing was on marginal or even submarginal land that should never have been "broke out". Rates of soil loss in the Palouse Hills by extraordinary accelerated soil erosion have been some of the greatest on Earth, but this negative externality or market failure did not serve as a meaningful warning in time to save what once were some of the most graceful and aesthetically appealing of all grasslands. Now Palouse Prairie ranges exist largely as fragments (many of such small size as to have no commercial value) except on land that is obviously non-arable (too rocky, shallow, infertile, or steep) even to an always-optimistic, scissor-billed sodbuster.

Nonetheless, the Palouse Prairie is recognized as a distinctive grassland viewed either as a large general range type or as consisting of several rangeland cover (= dominance) types. Numerous of the various range plant communities comprising the Palouse Prairie were described--usually as habitat types--by Rexford Daubenmire. Interested students should study particularily those sections dealing with grassland (vs. shrub steppe savanna) in Steppe Vegetation of Washington (Daubenmire, 1968). It was appropriate that the definitive summary source on the Palouse Prairie was that of Daubenmire (in Coupland, 1992, ps. 297-312).

The name Palouse is a varied spelling of Palus, a nomadic tribe of North American Indians. The Palus people have sometimes been associated with the Nez Perce, but accounts in the Lewis and Clark journals clearly showed these to be two separate tribes. Contrary to the standard version or legend (depending on one's pespective) the breed of horse now known as Appaloosa was more likely derived from Palouse or Palus horse than as some derivative of Nez Perce (Wikipedia). While the term Palouse Prairie originally might have been affilitated or equated with the "home range" of the Palus, it was, as explained above, quickly applied by pioneer plant ecologists to a much larger geographic region based on affilitations of plant species.

As treated herein the Palouse Prairie was interpreted so as to include the channeled scablands, a geologic land form that is adjacent to the Palouse Hills (the Palouse Prairie in its most restricted, narrow usage). Channeled scablands range was covered below under a subheading of Palouse Prairie. This organization was deemed consistent with the unique land form and geologic phenomena responsible for formation of the channeled scablands.

Palouse Prairie has sometimes been applied in a much more restrictive--and non-traditional--usage to steppe or bunchgrass prairie that is limited or close to the Palouse Hills area in the Northern Rocky Mountains in southeastern Washington and adjoining Idaho and Oregon. In this restricted meaning Palouse Prairie applies only (or almost only) to arable--even if highly erodible--land. This restricted portion of the greater Palouse Prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States with about only one percent of the original vegetation (= virgin sod) remaining, most having been converted to farmland by turn of the Twentieth Century (Johnson and O'Neil, 2001, p. 49).

Technical note and warning to viewers: The "frosted", "sparkled", "dazzle-like", or "crystalized" appearance of leaves in grasses shown here and in some other portions of Range Types of North America was created in the scanning process by the unsatisfactory performance of an Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scanner. This scanner scanned at levels of performance that in this author's judgment varied from failure to excellent. Excellence in scanning typically occurred with JPEGs of leaves and flowers of forbs, shrubs, and most trees. Unfortunately, scanning performance was an abject failure--completely unsatisfactory in this photographer's experience--with JPEGs of grasses, grasslike plants, and, though less frequently, foliage of conifers. Any narrow leaves on plants scanned in the Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scannerin came out as "sparkles" or "crystals". This reduced crisp, "crystal-clear" 35mm Kodachrome slides to substandard photographic reproductions like those shown immediately above.

Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scanners are totally unsatisfactory for reproduction of photographs of whole and, often, even partial plants of grasses, rushes, and sedges as well as foliage of conifers.

This author took the opportunity to warn fellow photograhers and web authors against this inferior, slip-shod equipment. Do not make the mistake of investing in Epson apparatus. Furthermore, most officials higher than receptionists at the Epson Corporation were arrogant and provided no advice to this photographer on how to adjust of set the Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scanner for better results.Epson officials were jerks and the Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scanner is a piece of junk. Avoid this company and the Epson Perfection V700 Photo color scanner. Products and representatives of Epson Corporation are both inferior.

22. Minature marsh- On a local sites (more like a larger microsite) within the basin wildrye swale community introduced immediately above Baltic rush (Juncus balticus) had formed a consociation so dense as to exclude other vascular plant species except around edges of the rush stand. This local unit of range vegetation had developed within the overall or surrounding basin wildrye-dominated depression or pothole.

23. Bluebunch wheatgrass range- A consociation of bluebunch wheatgrass grew on this xeric west slope in the Owyhee Upland province (Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 6, 34-38) of southeastern Oregon. This pristine stand that was nearing the end of its annual growth cycle represented some of the more westernly reaches of the Palouse Prairie (Weaver and Albertson, 1956, ps. 339-340). Most of the climax range vegetation in the Owyhee Upland and neighboring portions of the Columbia Plateau was sagebrush shrub-steppe (treated separately herein under Grasslands: Sagebrush Shrub-Steppe), but at higher elevations and on upland slopes Palouse Prairie bunchgrass steppe developed with bluebunch wheatgrass and Idaho fescue as dominants (or co-dominants) and with species like Thurber needlegrass (Stipa thurberiana) as associates. This relict vegetation was an example of such range plant communities.

25. Bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue range- An upland west slope in the Owyhee Upland province provided a favorable range site for this example of the Agropyron spicatum-Festuca idahoensis zonal association. Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 211-212, 219-220) recognized this range community as one of nine zonal associations which can occur as climatic climaxes within the greater steppe and shrub-steppe zones of the Columbia Basin.

This bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue association of bunchgrass prairie is climax grassland and not the climax savanna, the ecotonal vegetation, designated as sagebrush shrub-steppe. For that reason-- and consistent with organization of range cover types herein according to biome-- this grassland plant community was included with the Palouse Prairie (of which it is most certainly a part) and not with the sagebrush shrub-steppe, within the larger spatial dimension of which it occurred. Franklin and Dyrness (1973, p. 212) distinguished among steppe, shrub-steppe, and meadow-steppe all three of which are part of and, thus, found in the Columbia Basin and some of which occur in adjacent parts of the High Lava Plains and Owyhee Upland provinces (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p. 6).

The sagebrush shrub-steppe constitutes such a major or rangeland cover types that it was treated separately (Grassland: Sagebrush Shrub-Steppe).

The characteristic physiognomy of bunchgrass prairie was portrayed in this textbook "photo-quadrant" of an "island" or "outlier" of climax Palouse Prairie on an upland (= higher-elevation) site. This patchwork-like pattern of major plant communities in which bunchgrass steppe occurs as relatively small units of range vegetation within the larger, surrounding, lower-elevation sagebrush shrub-steppe is similar to the mosaic of alpine communities that is above but within the zonal coniferous forest.

The habitat of this higher-elevation, west slope was more mesic than that of the surrounding lower-elevation sagebrush shrub-steppe so steppe grassland rather than shrub-steppe savanna developed. This climax range vegetation illustrated the cital concept of range site potential. The range plant community was simple in terms of species composition and structure. There were only two major plant species and both were co-dominant. A thrid plant species (and also a grass), Sandberg bluegrass, was the associate. Differences in height among the three major bunchgrasses could be viewed as conprising two layers of vascular plants. Forbs were absent for all practical purposes. There were a few small plants of big sagebrush, but these could not rationally be considered as forming shrub layer. Again, this was grassland not shrub steppe savanna.

Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 214-216) presented tables that showed species compostion, cover, and constancy for the various associations of this area, including the bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue association. California workers (Young et al. in Barbour and Major, 1995) did not include steppe communities (nor allude to exitence of such vegetation) within their treatment of sagebrush steppe.

Vale District, Bureau of Land Management, Malheur County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect; peak standing crop. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grassland Ecosystem). K-43 (Fescue-Wheatgrass). SRM 304 (Idaho Fescue-Bluebunch Wheatgrass). Wheatgrass Series within Great Basin Shrub-Grassland biotic community or regional formation of Brown et al. (1998). Bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue Palouse association of Kagan et al. (2004). Northern Basin and Range- Dissected High Lava Plateau Ecoregion, 80a (Thorson et al., 2003).

26. Bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue steppe- Interior (inside so-to-speak) of the Agropyron spicatum-Festuca idahoensis zonal association that is a climatic climax in the Columbia Basin and parts of the Owyhee Upland provinces (Franklin and Dyrness (1973, ps. 6, 211-212, 219-220). The cespitose morphology of these bunchgrasses was obvious as was the dispersion and spatial interval among indvidual grass plants. Sandberg bluegrass was the associate species. Forbs were inconsequential and consisted mostly of various composites. Structure of this range plant community was obviously simple, however pronounced differences in height among the three Gramineae species could be interpreted as making up two layers of vascular plants. There were a few plants of big sagebrush, but these were so rare that designation of a shrub layer did not seem justified.

This "island" of Palouse Prairie had developed in the Owyhee Upland province at an elevation higher than that of the surrounding sagebrush shrub-steppe. Most accurately this range vegetation was in the Owyhee Mountains in the Payette section of the Columbia Plateau (Fenneman, 1931, ps. 226, 246-247).

27. Palouse Prairie at its successional pinnacle- An upland (= higher elevation) east slope opposite the bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue association shown in the two immediately preceding slides. Range vegetation on this more mesic east slope was also the climatic climax Agropyron spicatum-Festuca idahoensis zonal association. Physiognomy varied slightly from that of the opposite west slope steppe community, but the main difference was in species composition. Basin or giant wildrye (Elymus cinereus) was a component of the east slope range community (largest individual plants, bunchgrasses, in center foreground). In addition, Sandberg bluegrass was less common, but big sagebrush was more abundant and present as larger shrubs than in the west slope steppe community.

The aesthetic facet of this range was remarkable and warrented a passing comment. To a rangeman the totality of this land summed to grandeur. Sensuous value-- and it is much more than scenery alone-- of range is (always has been; always will be) one of the amenties and utilitarian features of this kind of land. Indeed the spiritual component is a human-affixed attribute of land of all kinds and uses. Plus, the aesthetic attribute of land-- range, in this instance-- is completely compatable with wise-use production of food, fiber, water, and other commodities and uses of natural resources.

As one takes in the splendor of range landscapes such as this, his mind-- unless his soul is dead-- harkens back to the pageant that played out (and will continue to play out) on this land. With any imagination at all there arise images of American Indians jumping buffalo (Bison bison) off of cliffs like the distant rimrock.

Such is the essence of intangibles that accompany those who live off of and with the land and work to leave it as good or better than they found it. Even Charlie Russell could not improve on this picture.

Vale District, Bureau of Land Management, Malheur County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect; peak standing crop. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grassland Ecosystem). K-43 (Fescue-Wheatgrass). SRM 304 (Idaho Fescue-Bluebunch Wheatgrass). Wheatgrass Series within Great Basin Shrub-Grassland biotic community of Brown et al. (1998). Bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue Palouse association of Kagan et al. (2004). Northern Basin and Range- Dissected High Lava Plateau Ecoregion, 80a (Thorson et al., 2003).

28. "The Big Picture" of Palouse Prairie- A landscape perspective of the bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue cover type on the Palouse Prairie conveyed the essential features of a range ecosystem. An understanding of the ecosytem concept and its application to management of grazing land is essential to scientific preparation in Range Management, Forestry, and other natural resource fields. Of course, scientific management as such is not essential to proper management of ranges. The American Indians appear to have done a better job at that than the scientifically oriented, technologically advanced Europeans. But we cnnot turn back the clock, appealing though that fantasy is to cowhands, black powder and bow hunters, and weekend environmentalists. Largescale views such as this also serve to remind students and users of natural resources (that includes everyone) of the ecological fact that Nature operates at landscape-scale. To the professionally interested student this served as a reminder to study Landscape Ecology as well as Ecosystem Ecology. In this context landscape refers to the "spatial mosaic of several ecosystems, landforms, and plant communities across a defined area irrespective of ownership or other artificial boundaries and repeated in similar form throughout" (Helms, 1998). Obviously ecosystems can be as big as the size and scale at which one chooses to study (eg. a cow track to the biosphere), but the landscape concept of interacting ecosystems is another useful conceptual framework from which to apply principles and practices of grazing land management.

This landscape was that of the Owyhee Upland province with bunchgrass steppe as the climax plant community (potential natural vegetation). There were a few invading western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) of young ages. These native conifers did not seem to be part of this native range vegetation but instead had invaded in absence of fire (ie.fire suppression "aided and abetted" by United States public land agencies). The matter of western juniper invasion and increase on juniper savanna and woodland and on sagebrush shrub steppe was dealt with in the section: Forest, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland.

30.  Palouse Prairie in “mint condition”- This is Kuchler’s “foothill prairie- Apyropron-Festuca-Stipa”. This particular range is  essentially a bluebunch wheatgrass consociation with scattered Sandberg bluegrass (Poa sandbergii= P. secunda). This relatively deep upland edaphic environment supports relatively little of the more mesic Idaho fescue. It is a textbook example of Daubenmire’s Agropyron spicatum-Poa secunda habitat type (Daubenmire, 1970, ps. iii, 18-20; Mueggler and Stewart, 1980, ps. 21-22). This pristine bunchgrass range was being grazed by cattle and stands as a testament to outstanding stewardship and the success of “wise use” range management.

Madison County, Montana. June. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grassland Ecosystem). K-56 (Foothills Prairie). SRM 101 (Bluebunch Wheatgrass). Closest fit in Brown et al. (1998) was Wheatgrass Series in Great Basin Shrub-Grassland biotic community.

31. Palouse Prairie (foothill prairie) vegetation in livestock exclosure- This example of bluebunch    wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass habitat type has been protected from livestock grazing for 44 years. The exclosure was built in 1957, but is not deer- or rodent-proof.  Compare this vegetation to that of the same habitat type that has been (still is being) grazed by cattle in the preceding slide. There is essentially no difference in species composition of the vegetation between the cattle range and that of the exclosure. The only apparent difference is degree of use and the greater proportion of standing dead herbage from the previous growing season in the exclosure. Renewable natural resources can be wisely used on a sustained yield basis. In the case of herbage (annual biomass), the feed resource cannot be stockpiled for long or so as to maintain high nutritive value indefinitely (ie. “use it or loose it”). Exclosures such as this one are an excellent means to insure relict vegetation which can then be used  as a benchmark or point of reference to measure successful practice of Range Management and Forestry. Redbluff Ranch, Montana State University.

Madison County, Montana. June. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grassland Ecosystem). K-56 (Foothills Prairie). Agropyron spicatum-Poa secunda (=P. sandbergii) habitat type (Daubenmire, 1970, ps. iii, 18-20). SRM 101 (Bluebunch Wheatgrass). Closest vegetation unit or biotic community in Brown et al. (1998) was Wheatgrass Series in Great Basin Shrub-Grassland biotic community or regional formation. Middle Rockies- Dry Intermontane Sagebrush Valleys Ecoregion, 17aa (Woods et al., 2002).

Redbluff Ranch, Montana State University, Madison County, Montana. June. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grassland Ecosystem). K-56 (Foothill Prairie). SRM is combination of 101 (Bluebunch Wheatgrass) and 102 (Idaho Fescue). Closest classification in Brown et al. (1998) was Wheatgrass Series within Great Basin Shrub-Grassland biotic community or regional formation. Middle Rockies- Dry Intermontane Sagebrush Valleys Ecoregion, 17aa (Woods et al., 2002).

38. Cespitose (bunched or tufted) habit- This attractive Idaho fescue plant is a textbook example of the cespitose habit of bunchgrasses. This is the origin of the term “bunchgrass prairie” for both the Palouse Prairie and the Pacific Prairie, the latter of which is dominated by Stipa species. In contrast to sod-forming grasses, bunchgrasses typically lack stolons and rhizomes (intervaginated shoots that grow horizonally) and instead have only tillers (intravaginated— thus, vertical— shoots).

***Related note and clarification: while the foothill prairie grasslands of western Montana and Wyoming are not presently conterminous with the actual Palouse Prairie region of eastern Washington and adjacent northern Idaho, historically these Festuca-Agropyron-Stipa bunchgrass prairies have been interpreted as “islands” of the Palouse Prairie. These more eastern “outposts” of the Inland and Coastal Pacific bunchgrass prairies are in effect geologically relict vegetation from when the Interior Pacific bunchgrass prairie extended as far east as the Black Hills of the Dakotas (Weaver and Albertson, 1956, ps. 339-342). Scrutiny of the Kuchler (1964, 1966 ) maps of potential natural vegetation reveals the geographic proximity and similar composition of these once extensive temperate, festucoid grasslands.

39.  Rocky Mountain shrub steppe- This north slope beside the Madison River supports a shrub-dominated    community more mesic than the benches below it but above the flood plain. The latter habitat supports grassland communities dominated variously by bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, and needle-and-thread. Neighboring riparian vegetation varies from hydric or aquatic herbaceous species like cattails to woody plants such as willows. The shrubland or shrub steppe seen here is a transect-view going from Rocky Mountain or river juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) and big sagebrush, which appeared to be the mountain big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata var. vasyana) form, in a breaks or rock outcrop habitat moving downslope to a mountain big sagebrush-skunkbush sumac-bluebunch wheatgrass-Idaho fescue shrub steppe. Plains reedgrass (Calamagrostis motanensis) is the main associate species of the herbaceous understory. Phenological development was slower on this north slope and at this stage bluebunch wheatgrass appeared to slightly more common than the co-dominant Idaho fescue, but this was by no means obvious grass development being far from peak standing crop. Likewise, dominance of skunkbush or big sagebrush would depend on what points along this imaginary transect were used as the basis for cover determination and species composition. Thus it would be a subjective call as to whether this was an Artemesia tridentata-Festuca idahoensis or an A. tridentata- Agropyron spicatum habitat type, or if it was a Rhus trilobata (= R. aromataca)-A. spicatum or R. trilobata-F. idahoensis habitat type. Whichever multiple guess is chosen, this is still an example of the bunchgrass shrub steppe. This raises a final question as to whether this is grassland or shrubland. Perhaps a designation of bunchgrass-shrub savanna suffices. Decisions, decisions…  

FRES No. 29 (Sagebrush Ecosystem). K-49 (Sagebrush Steppe). SRM 314 (Big Sagebrush-BluebunchWheatgrass) or SRM 315 (Big Sagebrush-Idaho Fescue). Closest vegetation unit in Brown et al. (1998) was Mixed Bunchgrass-Shrub Series within Great Basin Shrub-Grassland. Madison County, Montana. June. Middle Rockies- Dry Intermontane Sagebrush Valleys Ecoregion, 17aa (Woods et al., 2002).

Most importantly, downy brome is a dreadful weed because it dominates tens to hundreds of thousands of acres of Intermountain rangeland that have the potential to return through secondary succession to something resembling the more productive and nutritionally superior pre-Columbian climax grassland. At least, native perennial bunchgrasses like bluebunch wheatgrass,  Idaho fescue, and Sandberg bluegrass could increase and become more abundant than they are where it not for fierce competition with cheatgrass. Cheatgrass initiates growth earlier in the spring than the native perennials and depletes soil moisture thereby depriving the native bunchgrasses of the most limiting abiotic factor in the range ecosystem. This is most pronounced in seedling development because cheatgrass seedlings grow faster and extend their roots deeper earlier in the winter than do seedlings of the native perennial grasses (Harris, 1967).

Another major factor responsible for the persistence of cheatgrass (and deteriorated range) is the role of dead cheatgrass residue as a source of fuel for lightening-ignited fires later in the summer fire season. Cheatgrass completes its life cycle earlier in the growing season than the native perennial grasses and when the straw of the prolific seed-producing annual grass burns this damages the natives which are still growing and which rely to a larger extent on asexual reproduction by tiller production. With this combination of factors and conditions (and perhaps others like competition for light or selective grazing of the more palatable but less grazing-tolerant bunchgrasses) cheatgrass perpetuates it’s ecologically and nutritionally inferior “monoculture”. The reason why the perennials are more nutritious over a longer period is that they take longer to complete their annual growth cycle. This is what is meant by a longer green feed season. The shorter or faster growth cycle of annual grasses allows the continued displacement of the native perennial grasses by annual alien weeds. This results in  reduced forage value and lowered quality of range livestock and wildlife diets.

As is the case with any higher plant cheatgrass, including its residue of dead straw or mulch, provides certain benefits to range and meets some requirements for range ecosystem function including a degree of protection against soil erosion and watershed degradation, addition of organic matter to soil, source of forage and other habitat factors for wildlife (eg. nesting material for birds), sequestering of carbon, etc. Cheatgrass even has a subjective but distinctive beauty as its fuzzy shoots and lacy panicles grow and change colors with progression of season. In these ways, downy brome does fulfill certain required features or properties necessary for "rangeland health" (Committee on Rangeland Classification, 1994; Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1997, ps. 4-23-4-26; Mitchell, 2000, ps. 27-55), whatever the heck "rangeland health" is.

Among other things, these benefits of cheatgrass (again, any vascular plant species furnishes such benefits) allows managers of public land to assert that depleted cheatgrass range is not as bad as might appear strictly on basis of traditional range condition/trend analysis because cheatgrass cover does offer enough of the things just listed to prevent further deterioration of natural resources. This means that replacement of native perennials by cheatgrass permits degradation of range ecosystems to progress only to the point that basic resources like soil and water are not extremely, at least not totally, exhausted). In other words, cheatgrass populations can, on some range sites and under certain situations, sustain "the integrity of the soil and the ecological processes of rangeland ecosystems" enough to meet "the minimum standard”…”to prevent human-induced loss or "rangeland health" (Committee on Rangeland Health, 1994, ps. 4-5).  

A specific, if hypothetical, example might be a climax shrub steppe community of bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, bitterbrush, and big sagebrush that through overgrazing a century ago and uncontrolled summer wild fires in recent times deteriorated to a "solid stand"of cheatgrass. By previous standards of range condition and trend based on successional state (seral stage) this range was (or would have been) rated as Poor or Very Poor, it being at one of the lowest seral stages due to retrogression. Now not to worry: based on the revised standards of "rangeland health" the range ecosystem could be in or at an  acceptable ecological status because the soil is not washing away and the stream draining the watershed is not carrying an unacceptable sediment load. Cheatgrass ("any plant") recycles nutrients and acts as a factor in soil formation. In short, any plant (even an alien weed like cheatgrass) contributes to ecosystem structure and function and, thus, "rangeland health".

Furthermore, it might be plausible that a cheatgrass-dominanted range community could be the "desired plant composition" for certain uses and values (Committee on Rangeland Health, 1994, p. 94) "at least for a period of time" based on standards of "soil stability and watershed function, integrity of nutririent cycles and energy flow, and presence of functioning recovery mechanisms" (Committee on Rangeland Health, 1994, ps. 98-99). This does not mean that the land or plant community has to have recovered, but only that recovery mechanisms "must be in place and they must be working" as determined by the criterion of "changes in plant demographics" (Committee on Rangeland Health, 1994, p. 120).  It was not clear in examples given by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (1997, ps. 4-23-4-26) if and for how long some cheatgrass ranges would be in an acceptable state of "rangeland health" if there were not "changes in plant demographics"”. Nor was it clear the spceific meaning of these "demographics". For instance, does this mean the traditional criteria of plant succession such that over time the same parcel of land comes to be occupied by plants of higher ecological (= successional) status (eg. gradual replacement of cheatgrass by decreasers like bluebunch wheatgrass)? Or, alternatively, can "demographics" apply at the population level such that an increasing number or cover of cheatgrass over time is a change in "demographics"?

 It would appear that Bromus tectorum is fodder for thought as well as for range animals and fires. By the way, when cheatgrass serves as fuel to increase frequency of wild fires "hereby leaving soils exposed to erosion and watersheds more apt to degrade" how is this factored into the calculation of "rangeland health"? Erath County, Texas. April.

Under the most severe extremes of grazing/browsing degrees of use, harsh fire regimes, drought, and desert climates therophytes become progressively more common or the dominant life-form. Under (and often for decades following) prolonged and severe overgrazing, protracted drought, and repeated fire at critical stages of plant phenology therophytes come to dominate the other life-forms, including even the cryptophytes and hemicryptophytes, all the more. Thus throughout the Intermountain Region between the Rockys and the Sierra Nevada-Cascade ranges cheatgrass came to dominate and displace, often to a monoculture-like exclusion, the native perennial bunchgrasses, valuable browse plants (eg. antelope bitterbrush), and even the relatively unpalatable shrubs like sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and greasewood. 

Erath County, Texas. April.