Wet Fresh Meadow (sedge)
Scenario model
Current ecosystem state
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Management practices/drivers
Select a transition or restoration pathway
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Transition T1a
introduction of exotic species
More details -
Transition T2a
heavy logging and livestock grazing causes flash-flooding results in an increase in sediment-loads down the connecting streams, downcutting and destabilization of the system.
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Transition T3a
management decisions and actions deplete vegetation, common to till and re-seed with introduced species
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No transition or restoration pathway between the selected states has been described
Target ecosystem state
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Description
The Reference State is a description of this ecological site just prior to Euro-American settlement but long after the arrival of Native Americans. The description of the Reference State was determined by NRCS Soil Survey Type Site Location information and familiarity with rangeland relict areas where they exist. The least modified plant community (1.1) within the Reference State would have been a fen (i.e. a wet grassland) dominated by sedges including Nebraska sedge (Carex nebrascensis), water sedge (Carex aquatilis), and smallwing sedge (Carex microptera), rushes including mountain rush (Juncus arcticus ssp. littoralis) and fewflower spikerush (Eleocharis quinqueflora), and grasses including tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa), alpine timothy (Phleum alpinum), marsh bluegrass (Poa leptocoma), and slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus). Minor amounts of forbs and shrubs would have also occurred. A more complete list of species by lifeform for the Reference State is available in accompanying tables in the “Plant Community Composition by Weight and Percentage” section of this document.
The productivity and composition of this plant community would have been quite stable, although varying with the climate because it would have been affected by runoff from streams originating at higher elevations in adjacent mountains. The water table usually persisted throughout the year, causing poorly-aerated soils. Following very wet winters, the melting snow pack would have caused a high and widespread surge of flooding.
Submodel
Description
State 2 is similar to State 1 in form and function, with the exception of the presence of non-native plants and animals, possible extinctions of native species, and a different climate. State 2 is a description of the ecological site shortly following Euro-American settlement. This state can be regarded as the current potential. Although similar to State 1 in form and function, soon after European colonization, this xerified state saw reductions in the proportion of the finer-textured soils, and thus a decrease in the more palatable, grasses and increases in the coarser sedges and rushes. Because the soils are somewhat drier due to changes in the hydrologic regime, expansion of native shrubs such as Geyer willow (Salix geyeriana), Woods’ rose (Rosa woodsii), and cinquefoil (Potentilla spp.) began. In areas first targeted by the U.S. Forest Service for grazing control (circa 1910), the herbaceous fraction usually regained its dominance and slowed down the advance of the shrubs. An increase in moose and beaver also put pressure on the willows. Newly constructed beaver dams simultaneously increased ponding and raised water tables in and around streams.
Submodel
Description
Where control of grazing intensity hadn’t been achieved earlier and excessive use by livestock prevailed, the vegetation takes on the character of drier sites at low elevations. Upland species such as rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) and mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana), common on drier adjacent sites, begin to dominate (3.2). The areas most heavily affected from livestock grazing and loafing (3.2a) will be reduced to only those annual and biennial species most tolerant to disturbance (3.1).
Submodel
Description
Grasses used to reseed degraded montane meadows include meadow foxtail, tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), mountain brome (Bromus marginatus), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata), tufted hairgrass, sheep fescue (Festuca ovina), meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum), and timothy (Phleum pratense) (4.1). Smooth brome (Bromus inermis) was commonly seeded in the past, but should be avoided because of its invasive nature. No matter the seed mix used, there will be some seed remaining in the tilled soil and subsequent climate and management will mold the species occurring at particular times. These variables make it impossible to anticipate the phases that will develop. Monitor changes and regulate use to favor the species combinations desired.
Submodel
Mechanism
Transition from State 1 to State 2 (Reference State to Slightly Xerified Sedge Meadow State)
The simultaneous introduction of exotic species, both plants and animals, and possible extinctions of native flora and fauna, along with climate change, impacted the Reference State. However, it was primarily the heavy logging and livestock grazing in the watersheds above that changed the environment in this ESD. Those activities led to earlier and higher floods following snowmelt. These waters also carried more sediment and caused more rapid down-cutting of the stream courses. This lowered the water table and shortened the period of soil saturation. Direct livestock utilization disfavored the fine textured grasses and grass-likes, allowing an increase in the proportion of sedges and rushes with higher silica content.
Reversal of these historic changes (i.e. a return pathway back to State 1) is not practical.
Mechanism
T2a: Transition from State 2 to State 3 (Slightly Xerified Sedge Meadow State to Heavily Xerified Meadow State)
These meadows are indirectly affected by the logging and livestock grazing pressures that occur in forested areas higher in the watershed. Where heavy logging and livestock grazing is not controlled, flash-flooding results, causing an increase in sediment-loads down the connecting streams. Streambanks are down-cut, causing the flow of water through these lower montane meadows to increase. Where heavy grazing pressure continues directly on these drying meadows, further xerification results these sites becoming invaded by both native and introduced species tolerant of drier soils and greater disturbance. The approach to this transition is indicated by the occurrence of seedlings of species dominant on drier sites, by areas of frequent disturbance, and by reduced ground cover.
Mechanism
Transition from State 3 to State 4 (Heavily Xerified Meadow State to Replacement Grassland State)
This transition is triggered by management decisions and actions. Because forage production is so diminished from earlier States and the hydrological regime so modified, it is impractical to reseed with species present in the Reference State or State 2. Thus, it has been common to till and re-seed with introduced species to regain a higher level of ground cover and forage production.
Model keys
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The Ecosystem Dynamics Interpretive Tool is an information system framework developed by the USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and New Mexico State University.