Wildlife Depredations on Broadcast Seedings of Burned Brushlands

Abstract

I N California, dense stands of undesira,ble woody vegetation or “brush” are being removed by burning, followed by seeding of forage grasses or legumes where natural reseeding of herbaceous vegetation will not occur. This is part of a range improvement program to convert some of the 10 or more millions of acres of brushland in California into more productive grasslands (Love and Jones, 1947). Depredations by seed-eating rodents, birds, and harvester ants may prevent a broadcast seeding from being successful. Such failures frequently have been wrongfully ascribed to unfavorable weather, adverse site conditions or poor germination, since these factors are the more obvious causes of failures and loss of seed is not easily observed. All tests included in this report were made in Madera County while the author was stationed at the San Joaquin Experimental Range; field observations were made in other parts of California also. Acknowledgments are due many ranchers and county, state, and federal personnel for their assistance and comments on the depredations by wildlife in their respective localities. The material used in Table 2 and some of the field trials were done in cooperation with Jay R. Bentley of the California Forest and Range Experiment Station. Assistance on methods of treating seeds was provided by the Wildlife Research Laboratory of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Agriculture, and County Agricultural Commissioners. Milton A. Miller and other Farm Advisors of the University of California Agricultural Extension Service provided valuable information to this study, and individuals of the U. S. Forest Service and the California Division of Forestry gave frequent help.