Mixed‐Prairie Well Site Reclamation with Natural Recovery, Seeding, and Grazing

Abstract

Reclamation of surface disturbances on grasslands is an important management issue. This research examined how cattle grazing and revegetation treatments influenced vegetation development on mixed-prairie well sites. Three seed mix treatments, dominant wheatgrass (a Triticeae tribe) (four species providing 95% wheatgrass seed in the seed mix), nondominant wheatgrass (five species with 80% nonwheatgrasses in the seed mix), and diverse (22 grass and forb species), plus a natural recovery (unseeded) treatment, with and without cattle grazing, were compared with undisturbed (control) prairie for soil seedbank, vegetation composition, ground cover, and biomass. The nondominant wheatgrass seed mix resulted in communities dominated by wheatgrass species, whereas natural recovery was dominated by early and midseral species. Seeding yielded greater aboveground biomass with < 20% bare ground; natural recovery biomass was slightly less with greater bare ground (grazed 45%, ungrazed 23%). Cattle grazing reduced cover of northern wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus [Scribn. & J.G.Sm.] Gould) in seeded treatments. Species richness and diversity were greater with natural recovery than with seeding and in undisturbed prairie. Multivariate tests showed that plant community composition in undisturbed prairie and natural recovery differed from seeded treatments; natural recovery was dominated by early to midsuccessional species. The short-term patterns of change in different vegetation parameters suggest that irrespective of grazing, natural recovery and seeding with a diverse native seed mix could be effective approaches for mixed-prairie reclamation.