Great Basin Experimental Range: 

Annotated Bibliography

E. Durant McArthur, 

Bryce A. Richardson and 

Stanley G. Kitchen

United States Department of Agriculture / Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Research Station

General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-305WWW

June 2013
McArthur, E. Durant; Richardson, Bryce A.; Kitchen, Stanley G. 2013. Great Basin 

Experimental Range: Annotated bibliography. Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR-305WWW. 

Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station. 97 p.

Abstract

This annotated bibliography documents the research that has been conducted on the 

Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER, also known as the Utah Experiment Station, 

Great Basin Station, the Great Basin Branch Experiment Station, Great Basin Experimental 

Center, and other similar name variants) over the 102 years of its existence. Entries were 

drawn from the original abstracts or summaries when those were included in the original 

document. When no abstract or summary was provided the authors produced summaries for inclusion. One hundred and ninety-one works are included and indexed by date, 

type of publication, subject matter, and author. The works are divided into the following 

categories (some of which are interrelated): Community Ecology, Disturbance (Grazing ) 

Ecology, Fire Ecology, Historical and Site Descriptions, Livestock Management, Mammal 

Ecology, Methodology, Plant Autoecology, Plant Physiology, Plant Taxonomy or Status, 

Range Ecology and Range Management, Research Needs Assessment, Revegetation 

and Restoration Ecology, Site Evaluation and Species Performance, Soil Biology and 

Ecology, and Watershed Ecology. One hundred and three authors are included among 

who are some eminent scientists that have made fundamental contributions to the body 

of natural resource science.

Keywords: Great Basin Experimental Range, Great Basin Experiment Station, Utah 

Experiment Station, Great Basin Station, livestock grazing, rangeland 

ecology, revegetation, species trials, watershed ecology 

Authors

E. Durant McArthur, Emeritus Scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Bryce A. Richardson, Research Geneticist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Research Station, and Scientist-in-charge, 

Great Basin Experimental Range.

Stanley G. Kitchen, Research Botanist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 1

Great Basin Experimental Range: 

Annotated Bibliography1

E. Durant McArthur2, Bryce A. Richardson3 and 

Stanley G. Kitchen4

Introductory Note: Entries qualify for inclusion if they were conducted in whole 

or part at the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER, also known as the Utah 

Experiment Station, Great Basin Station, the Great Basin Branch Experiment Station, Great Basin Experimental Center, and other similar name variants). They do 

not qualify merely by the author having worked at GBER when the research was 

performed or prepared. Entries were drawn from the original abstracts or summaries when those were included in the original document. The conclusions are 

those of the original authors. Likewise, (1) taxonomic treatments are those of the 

original authors with our occasional annotations for clarification and (2) tense is 

that of the original. However if the original was presented in first person point of 

view it was modified to third person point of view to provide internal homogeneity 

in the document.

The Great Basin Experimental Range names and function have changed with the 

times since the site was selected in 1911 and research and facility development 

started in 1912. Since 1997, Snow College has managed the headquarters area as 

the Great Basin Environmental Education Center (GBEEC). In its beginnings research at the GBER was not clearly separated from other Forest Service functions 

although research was clearly the primary purpose of the Great Basin Station as the 

facility was then known. The Station was one of the key elements that coalesced 

into the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (now part of the 

Rocky Mountain Research Station) when the network of nationwide geographical Forest Service Research Stations was established in 1930. Research was and 

is conducted within the Great Basin Experimental Range, which comprises some 

4,600 acres in the Ephraim (Cottonwood Creek) Canyon watershed ranging from 

6,700 to 10,500 feet in elevation. Research conducted from and overseen from the 

GBER, however, was not confined to the Great Basin Experimental Range per se, 

1 Entries qualify for inclusion if they were conducted in whole or part at the Great Basin 

Experimental Range, which has also been known as the Utah Experiment Station, the Great Basin 

Experiment Station, The Great Basin Branch Station, and the Great Basin Experimental Area or 

were based on GBER research in whole or part. 

2 Emeritus Scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Shrub Sciences Laboratory, 

Rocky Mountain Research Station.

3

Research Geneticist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Shrub Sciences Laboratory, 

Rocky Mountain Research Station and Scientist-in-charge, Great Basin Experimental Range. 4

Research Botanist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Shrub Sciences Laboratory, 

Rocky Mountain Research Station.
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but expanded out on other lands in the Manti National Forest (now Manti-La Sal 

National Forest) and beyond. The headquarters complex first buildings were started 

in 1912 and completed by 1914 with additions in the late 1920s and a new phase 

of building began with the help of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) labor in 

the 1930s. Other improvements were also built to facilitate the research studies of 

the Great Basin Station. These include gauging stations, water catchments basins, 

grazing exclosures and other fences, and the Alpine Cabin. Overs the course of 

time nearly 200 research publications have been produced in the areas of range 

management, watershed, vegetation composition and dynamics, plant adaptation, 

plant phenology, vigor, and nutrition; and silvicultural studies. The Experimental 

Range has also served a vital education and training function. Some of the eminent 

natural resource scientists who began their careers or established reputations here 

include Arthur Sampson, Fredrick Baker, W. R. Chapline, C. L. Forsling, Raymond 

Price, Lincoln Ellison, and A. Perry Plummer.

Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful for reviews of earlier versions of this 

manuscript by David Anderson, National Security Technologies; Liane Ellison 

Norman, poet and author; and Alison Whittaker, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Great Basin Research Center. Each reviewer has insight from experience 

gained from working or living at the GBER. The authors are also grateful to science 

librarians Mike Goates of Brigham Young University, Laura Bojanowski of the 

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, and Laura Hutchinson of 

the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station who were helpful in obtaining 

many of the documents included in this work.
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001. Adams, Mary Beth; Loughry, Linda; Plaugher, Linda. 2004. Experimental 

Forests and Ranges of the USDA Forest Service. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-321. 

Newton Square, PA: Northeastern Research Station. 178 p.

The Great Basin Experimental Range is among the inventory listed in this report. 

The USDA Forest Service has an outstanding scientific resource in the 77 Experimental Forests and Ranges that exist across the United States and its territories. 

These valuable scientific resources incorporate a broad range of climates, forest 

types, research emphases, and history. This publication describes each of the research 

sites within the Experimental Forest and Range network, providing information 

about history, climate, vegetation, soils, long-term data bases, research history and 

research products, as well as identifying collaborative opportunities, and providing 

contact information.

002. Alder, Guy Michael. 1970. Age-profiles of aspen forests in Utah and northern 

Arizona. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah. 31 p. Thesis.

A total of 44 stands of aspen were located on a variety of sites throughout Utah 

and into Arizona including a stand in the Great Basin Experimental Range. Ages 

for mature trees were obtained from cores taken with an increment borer. Stand 

age profiles were drawn using percent sum density within 5-year age class intervals. The traditional concept of even aged stands was not supported by the data. 

Instead, mature trees generally occurred in groups in which ages were somewhat 

normally distributed. Correlations between age and diameter, and diameter and 

height yielded highly significant, positive correlation coefficients. Inter- and intrastand variation was considerably less than anticipated from such a wide-ranging 

set of age, diameter, and height measurements.

003. Aldous, C. M. 1951. The feeding habits of pocket gophers (Thomomys 

talpoides moorei) in the high mountain ranges of central Utah. Journal of 

Mammalogy 32(1): 84-87.

Studies of the feeding and storage habits of the pocket gopher were made on the 

Wasatch Plateau (Great Basin Experimental Range) in Utah at an elevation of 

9000-10,000 feet. Work was conducted on fenced plots, which prevented grazing 

by livestock. While the animals are primarily of subterranean habits, it was found 

that they utilize considerable quantities of surface vegetation in the immediate 

vicinity of their mounds. A survey of clipped plants under 511 fresh mounds revealed that 48 species were involved in what amounted to almost complete removal 

of vegetation. Much of the plant cuttings was stored and used as food. However, 

some plants were cut and stored, which were not subsequently used for forage. It 

was suspected that the clear cutting of vegetation at prospective mound sites was 

partly a measure to facilitate subsequent mound formation. Among foods utilized 

in underground foraging, dandelion roots were most prominent. Tubers of Stellaria and bulbs of Claytonia ranked second and third, respectively. The relative 

amount of underground plant portions in storage was determined by excavating a 

runway at each of five different sites.
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004. Antrei, Albert. 1982. Zion stands with hills surrounded (floods, conservation, 

and the Manti National Forest). Chapter 9. In: Antrei, Albert C. T.; Scow, 

Ruth T., eds. The other forty-niners, a topical history of Sanpete County, Utah 

1849-1983. Salt Lake City, UT: Western Epics: 193-231.

This is a detailed chronicle of the conditions leading up to the establishment of the 

Manti Forest Reserve by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903. The forest reserve 

with later organizational consolidations became part of the Manti National Forest 

and then the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Solution to the severe vegetative denudation and soil loss that brought on a citizens petition for watershed protection 

through the Forest Service also motivated the establishment of a research station 

in Ephraim Canyon of the Wasatch Plateau, Manti National Forest in 1912. The 

roles citizens like Lauritz Nielson of Ephraim and Mayor L. R. Anderson of Manti, 

National Forest System administrators like A. W. Jensen and J. W. Humphrey, 

and Great Basin Experimental Range scientists like Arthur W. Sampson, Lincoln 

Ellison, and A. Perry Plummer played in the conservation history and pioneering 

science discoveries are blended with Sanpete County community life by the author 

who himself was an employee of the Great Basin Experimental Range and later a 

school teacher and community leader in Sanpete County.

005. Antrei, Albert. 1993. To whom this may concern, landmarks of a liberal education. Manti, UT: The Universal Impression. 339 p.

This memoir includes colorful firsthand accounts of life at the Great Basin Experimental Station in the 1930s and 1940s with some forwarding through time as the 

author put down roots in the Sanpete Valley community. To wit: ...I descended 

from that bus in Ephraim...on June Sunday (in 1936). As the bus departed I stood 

alone on the corner occupied by the D. W. Anderson Drug Company. I was as 

lost as that needle somebody dropped once in haystack, and I felt just as unlikely 

ever to be found again. ...Down the street from me a lone sinner was breaking the 

Sabbath, heading for a stack of hay somewhere with a team of horses hitched up 

to an empty, chuckling hay wagon. Since it was a Sunday, the streets were otherwise properly empty, resembling a ghost town deserted the day before. I saw not 

a single automobile or tractor... I came to Utah to fill a job... My job was to help 

with the gathering of data in the field for research projects that were to be analyzed 

during the winter months in Ogden, Utah, at the Intermountain Forest and Range 

Experiment Station by scientists in range botany and soil erosion. All of the field 

work took place on summer range in Ephraim Canyon. Winter range research was 

conducted at the “Desert Station” about 50 miles west of Milford, Utah, and springfall range problems were studied at a station north of Dubois, Idaho. ... Between 

June 1 and about October 1, I went to town with other station technicians to meet 

the girls. I was making about $125 per month, and every Saturday afternoon (we 

worked until noon) I went to town for a little R & R, to last until the station truck 

left for the station again usually about midnight. There was a movie theater in 

Ephraim and on Saturday nights an open-air dancing pavilion. I was not interested 

in church on Sunday, so on Sunday I remained at the foot of Haystack Mountain 

(Station Headquarters), either reminiscent or nurturing a headache. Religion did 
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not bother me, and I did not bother it. I drank a little, which in Utah is the same as 

drinking a whole lot, and I smoked a pipe; moderately, I thought. But again here 

in Utah one curl of smoke means a forest fire...

006. Bailey, Reed W. 1945. Determining trend of range-watershed conditions to 

success in management. Journal of Forestry 43(10): 733-737.

Accurate determination of the condition and trend of the plant cover and soil mantle, 

site by site, is considered the key to satisfactory range-watershed management. 

Many unsatisfactory range-watershed situations are attributed largely to an inadequate understanding of conditions and trend, including a tendency to rely upon 

single-factor indices rather than to consider all of the observable site factors. As 

a solution, the author advocates further research in ecology and soils, a fuller use 

of range condition and trend in surveys and inspections, and higher professional 

qualifications for range-watershed managers. When factors entering into successes 

and failures in range management are considered, when the meaning of range 

condition and trend is analyzed, and when the uses to which knowledge of range 

condition and trend can be put are recognized; it becomes obvious that the accurate 

determination of condition and trend should rate high in the science and art of 

range management. The conclusion that the condition and trend of range-watershed 

lands are the basis on which policies are formulated and upon which action is taken 

is inescapable. Viewed in the light, condition and trend should have an important 

place in range inventories and should be the essential guides in laying out specific 

range-management plans. Certainly they constitute the heart of range inspection 

and the basis for considering programs. The observations and research that lead 

to this report were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

007. Bailey, Reed W. 1948. Forest and range research in Utah and the Intermountain 

Region. Utah Magazine 10(9): 6-7, 24-25.

Thirty-six years ago, forest and range research had its rather humble beginning in 

Utah. Four men drove up the winding Ephraim Canyon road in a wagon in June 

of 1912. The trip was exploratory; their purpose, to find a suitable spot for an experiment station at which research on erosion and related watershed matters could 

be conducted. The flood of 1909 had drawn attention to the canyon. The need for 

greater knowledge of flood causes from range watersheds, the suitability of the terrain, and the variety of plant life all made Ephraim Canyon a likely choice. This site 

ultimately became the Great Basin Experimental Range. Several lines of research 

are conducted by the Intermountain Station; there are six broad types performed by 

the station scientists. These are (1) watershed management and protection studies, 

which seek out ways of obtaining maximum utilization of the forage and range 

resources without inducing soil erosion or flood runoffs; (2) grazing management 

studies aimed at determining the grazing capacity and proper seasonal use of the 

various types of range so as to support the greatest number of livestock and wildlife year after year; (3) range reseeding investigations designed to determine what 

types of native or introduced grasses and shrubs are most suited to rangelands and 

how they can be planted and maintained; (4) range economics research to relate 

the findings of range research to social and economic conditions; (5) forest man-
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agement studies concerned at present principally with harvesting and restocking 

of ponderosa pine areas; and (6) flood control surveys that develop programs of 

land use and treatment for erosion and flood control.

008. Bailey, Reed W.; Connaughton, Charles A. 1936. Watershed protection. In: 

The western range, 74th U.S. Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, DC: Senate 

Document 199: 303-339.

This broad review of watershed conditions includes a section on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range. The role of vegetation (in the conservation of watershed 

resource) had to be ascertained quantitatively by detailed investigation. The first 

of these investigations of any consequence on western rangeland was instituted 

by the Forest Service on the Great Basin Experimental Range on the Wasatch 

Plateau near Ephraim, Utah, in 1912, where a study was made of the runoff and 

erosion from two grazing areas of about 10 acres each, fairly similar except for the 

cover of vegetation. Area A had an original plant density of 16 percent and Area 

B a density of 40 percent. Both areas were grazed and for the 6 years, 1915 to 

1920, the cover was maintained at the original densities. During the period 1921 

to 1923 Area A was allowed to revegetate until its density approximately equaled 

that of Area B. From 1924 to 1929 both areas were grazed and maintained at equal 

densities. With Area A in a depleted condition, the runoff percent and sediment 

removed were approximately 4.1 and 5.4 times greater than Area B. As the plant 

cover was gradually restored on the former, these differences diminished until the 

ratios for runoff percent and sediment were only 2.9 and 2.8. Finally, when the 

densities of the plant cover were made comparable, the runoff percent from the 

two areas was practically the same, and the excess of silt removed from A was 

reduced from 109.1 to 11.5 cubic feet. This reduction of silt removed from Area A 

following revegetation has a far greater significance than merely the reduction of 

soil movement, because of its indirect effect on the future rate of absorption and 

percolation of the soil.

009. Baker, Fredrick S. 1918. Aspen as a temporary forest type. Journal of Forestry 

16(3): 294-303.

It must be admitted at the outset that the aspen stands of the Great Basin are certainly not ephemeral, but have probably existed much as they are now for many 

generations and will doubtless last for many more. Accordingly, they have the 

appearance of permanence. In Colorado and New Mexico, where conditions are 

similar, the temporary nature of the aspen stands is not questioned, because the 

coniferous climax is generally further advanced and there is not an appearance of 

stability or long duration. Duration, however, is no criterion of true stability. As 

defined by the Forest Service, a permanent or climax type is “a forest type which 

will eventually take possession of and perpetuate itself on any given area if natural conditions are undisturbed. Therefore if aspen is giving way to conifers at all 

within its “permanent” range, it is essentially transitory and a subclimax stage in 

succession. Observations and research that led to this publication came, in part, 

from the Great Basin Experimental Range.
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010. Baker, Fredrick S. 1918. Aspen reproduction in relation to management. 

Journal of Forestry 16(4): 389-398.

Reproduction by root suckers is practically the only means by which aspen stands 

are regenerated in the Intermountain area. As conditions of climate and other factors 

that would influence reproduction are practically the same now as they have been 

for the last few centuries, it seems improbable that seed reproduction has been active 

for a very long time. That vegetative reproduction should still remain so vigorous is 

remarkable, when the usual rapid deterioration of coppice of other species is considered. It seems improbable, therefore, that any immediate deterioration in vigor 

of reproduction is to be expected. The management of aspen, therefore, becomes 

very simple. Since practically all the reproduction is by sprouts, the silvicultural 

system is obviously clear-cutting, since this gives rise to the maximum number of 

sprouts. Observations and research that led to this publication came, in part, from 

the Great Basin Experimental Range.

011. Baker, Fredrick S. 1921. Two races of aspen. Journal of Forestry 19(4): 412-413.

In the mountain ranges running north and south through the State of Utah, aspen 

(Populus tremuloides) is an exceptionally common tree at middle elevations, covering large areas with solid bodies of pure type, particularly in the Wasatch Mountains 

and the Wasatch and Fishlake Plateaus. In the spring when the leaves are unfolding 

it is commonly noted that the leafing time of adjacent bodies is quite dissimilar. Not 

infrequently a line can be traced for upwards of a mile through the aspen where on 

the one side, the leaves are half developed and on the other the buds are just bursting. This line is almost invariably clear cut and distinct with little intermingling 

of the two forms. The boundary is apparently not determined by topography or 

soil conditions, as it may run up and down slopes or across them, or perhaps more 

frequently it will pursue a serpentine course entirely independent of topography. 

While spring leafing is the most striking feature in which these two forms of aspen differ, there are also other characteristics which are apparent. The leaves on 

the trees that come out first last longest in the fall, as a rule, although there is less 

consistency in this matter than spring development, due apparently to the uneven 

action of frosts in the mountainous country. Furthermore, the trees that leaf out 

earlier have neighboring clones that are characterized by a somewhat yellowish or 

brownish tinged bark when compared to those that leaf out later. Measurements in 

a 44-year-old stand on the grounds of the Great Basin Experiment Station (Great 

Basin Experimental Range) show a difference of only 0.03 inch in the diameter of 

the “white” and “yellow” trees, however, in favor of the “white,” while the finest 

stand in the region around the Great Basin Experiment Station is “yellow” near 

the upper limits of aspen in an Engelmann spruce burn.

012. Baker, Frederick S. 1925. Aspen in the central Rocky Mountain region. Tech. 

Bull. 1291. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 47 p.
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The detailed results reported in this bulletin were carried out chiefly on the Ephraim 

Canyon watershed of the Manti National Forest, in central Utah (the Great Basin 

Experimental Range). The results, however, in a very general way, cover the aspen 

in the entire central Rocky Mountain region, including Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, 

Nevada, southern Idaho, and a little of northern Arizona and New Mexico. The 

report gives distribution information and describes the tree and its plant community 

including leaf, flower, seed, bark and leaf characteristics; growth forms; climatic 

and soil and moisture requirements; quality growth sites; susceptibility to the injurious factors including fungi, insects, mammals, and abiotic factors; reproduction of 

conifers associated with aspen; associated species; growth characteristics including 

height, diameter, yield, and volume; thinning; wood properties; uses; management; 

silvicultural systems; and succession.

013. Baker, Frederick S. 1925. Character of the soil in relation to the reproduction 

of western yellow pine. Journal of Forestry 23(7-8): 630-634.

The opinion is very frequently expressed by foresters throughout the West that 

western yellow pine reproduces best in sandy soil. In some places where growing 

conditions are first class, reproduction may be found upon heavy, clayey soils it 

is true, but in general it has been noted that where conditions are rather difficult 

for reproduction, a sandy soil is evidently much superior to a heavy clay soil. No 

investigations have yet shown exactly why this is so, or indeed whether it is actually a fact connected with the soil at all. There is a constantly increasing mass 

of information, however, regarding the factors that influence the reproduction of 

western yellow pine and in order to add a little evidence to this body of information, 

the results of an experiment carried out some years ago at the Great Basin Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) in Utah, are presented. Data show 

that the development of western yellow pine is conditioned more by the physical 

character of the soil under consideration than any other factor in usual forest soils, 

and that acidity is not a limiting factor. Of course, when alkalinity, or possibly 

acidity, rises to extreme points these factors may have considerable bearing on 

the growth of seedlings. While lightness of soil tends to favor the establishment 

of the young seedlings, their subsequent growth, except on very heavy clays and 

other unfavorable soils, seems to be determined by the degree of fertility (organic 

content) of the soil.

014. Baker, F. S.; Korstian, C. F. 1931. Suitability of brush lands in the Intermountain region for the growth of natural or planted western yellow pine forests. 

Tech. Bull. No. 256. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 83 p.

Western yellow pine, which is otherwise rather generally distributed throughout 

the western United States, is absent in a belt extending from the Gulf of California 

northeastward into west-central Montana. In northern Utah and southeastern Idaho, 

where this belt is several hundred miles wide, the elevations at which the pine is 

commonly found in other parts of the West are occupied by brush-land shrubs. A 
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comparison of this brush-land belt with the natural pine zone reveals both similarities 

and differences in climatic and soil conditions. It is among the differences in these 

conditions that the factors that make the brush lands unsuitable for the germination 

and early development of the yellow pine seedlings are to be found. A comparison 

of conditions in the western yellow pine zones to the north and south with those 

of the intervening brush lands shows that no significant differences in temperature 

exist and no notable differences in total annual precipitation but the distribution of 

rainfall during the summer months in the brush lands is notably different from that 

either to the north or south. Observations and research that led to this publication 

came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

015. Baker, F. S.; Korstian, C. F.; Fetherolf, N. J. 1921. Snowshoe rabbits and 

conifers in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Ecology 2(4): 304-310.

Snowshoe rabbits are present in large numbers throughout the Wasatch Mountains. 

Their food during the winter months consists principally of the buds and tender 

twigs of conifers, and they are therefore a serious menace to natural reproduction 

as well as to plantations. In localities where rabbits are numerous, injury from this 

cause materially reduces height-growth of coniferous seedlings and saplings. With 

the destruction of a large number of coyotes, the principal natural enemy of rabbits, 

there has been a considerable increase in the number of rabbits and a corresponding increase in the damage to conifers. Poisoning is the most feasible method of 

rabbit control on large areas. Fencing is necessary where absolute protection is 

desired on small areas. Formulae are given for preparing poison bait. Observations and research that led to this publication came, in part, from the Great Basin 

Experimental Range.

016. Barnes, Burton V. 1975. Phenotypic variation of trembling aspen in Western 

North America. Forest Science 21(3): 319-328.

Phenotypic variation of leaf, bud, and twig characters was investigated in 1,257 

trembling aspen clones at 206 locations in 7 states and 1 Canadian province. Early 

leaves from seasonally determinate shoots of the lower crown were sampled to 

minimize intraclonal variation. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed a 

clinal south-north gradient in leaf shape, size, and tooth number from southern 

Utah to northern Montana and Idaho. Nearly all clones had pubescent buds and 

shoots; these characteristics were most pronounced in Vancouver Island populations. Leaves from the Colorado and Columbia Plateaus closely resembled leaves 

of fossil Miocene and Pliocene aspen. Clones from mostly unglaciated areas were 

larger than those from the northern part of the study area. Observations and research 

that led to this publication came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

017. Baskin, Carol C.; Meyer, Susan E.; Baskin, Jerry M. 1995. Two types of 

morphophysiological dormancy in seeds of two genera (Osmorhiza and 

Erythronium) with an Arcto-Tertiary distribution pattern. American Journal 

of Botany 82(3): 293-298.
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Temperature requirements for embryo growth and germination were determined 

for seeds of Osmorhiza occidentalis, O. chilensis, and Erythronium gladiflorum 

collected in western North America (Utah). Initially, embryos were 1.2, 0.6, and 

0.8 mm in length, respectively, and they grew to 9.4, 9.2, and 4.1 mm, respectively, 

before germination occurred. Embryo growth and germination occurred during cold stratification (1, 5, 5/1 °C), without a warm stratification pretreatment. 

However, warm stratification pretreatments at 30/15 °C increased rates of embryo 

growth in O. occidentalis and E. grandiflorum seeds subsequently moved to low 

temperatures, and germination rates in all three species. Optimum germination 

temperatures were 1,5, or 5/1 °C; gibberellic acid did not substitute for cold stratification. Thus, seeds of the three species have deep complex morphophysiological 

dormancy (MPD). Two species each of Osmorhiza and Erythronium from eastern 

North America have a nondeep complex MPD and require warming followed by 

cold stratification for germination. The disjunct species in these genera with an 

Arcto-Tertiary distribution pattern can have different types of MPD. It is suggested 

that deep complex MPD may have been derived from nondeep complex MPD. 

Observations and research that led to this publication came, in part, from the Great 

Basin Experimental Range.

018. Blauer, A. Clyde; McArthur, E. Durant; Stevens, Richard; Nelson, Sheldon 

D. 1993. Evaluation of roadside stabilization and beautification plantings 

in south-central Utah. Res. Pap. INT-462. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 65 p.

Numerous roadside plantings at semiarid sites in the south-central Utah counties 

of Juab, Sanpete, and Sevier were intended to stabilize roadsides with plants harmonizing with the natural vegetation. The plantings, originally for demonstration, 

began in the 1950s. They included bareroot transplants and direct seedings. Soils 

and geologic substrates at six sites were analyzed for 15 characteristics. Plant performance and survival was summarized for 27 sites. Thirty species established 

well by direct seeding and 62 species established well from transplants. Numerous 

other species have also persisted at the planting sites but are not as vigorous or as 

well adapted. Direct seedings were principally grasses and forbs; the transplants 

were mainly shrubs. Thirty-six species showed enough recruitment to sustain themselves on the sites. Observations and research that led to this publication came, in 

part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

019. Blauer, A. Clyde; Plummer, A. Perry; McArthur, E. Durant; Stevens, Richard; 

Giunta, Bruce C. 1975. Characteristics and hybridization of important Intermountain shrubs. I. Rose family. Res. Pap. INT-169. Ogden, UT: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range 

Experiment Station. 35 p.

This paper reviews the state of knowledge, records observations, and presents 

original data for important Intermountain rosaceous shrubs. A key is given to aid 

recognition of taxa. Each species treated is described and it hybridization, distribution and habitat, and use are reviewed. Pioneer hybridization studies conducted in 
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part on the Great Basin Experimental Range, on the compatible genera Cowania 

(cliffrose), Fallugia (Apache plume), and Purshia (bitterbrush) are presented.

020. Bleak, A. T. 1959. Germinative characteristics of grass seed under snow. 

Journal of Range Management 12(6): 298-302.

Moistened seeds of smooth brome, Tualatin oatgrass and tall oatgrass and 

pregerminated seeds of smooth brome developed visible radicles or shoots in 

thawed soil under a deep snow cover. Seeds in small cloth bags placed under 

one-half inch of soil and permanent winter snow cover on November 30, 1956, 

and January 4, 1957, were removed at monthly intervals. Snow depth varied 

from 14 inches in November to 90 inches in April. By May 13, when the snow 

cover was still 46 inches deep, some seeds of smooth brome and tall oatgrass 

had developed primary roots over 11⁄2 inches long and shoots were just emerging 

from the soil surface. Viability of pre-germinated seeds of smooth brome and 

Tualatin oatgrass decreased substantially more than seeds of the comparable 

control lots. Percent decrease in viability under the deep snow cover was greatest in the old seed of Tualatin oatgrass with low initial viability. Additional 

observations on conditions at or near the soil surface were made in pits dug in 

the deep snow to plant and remove seed. Frozen soil present in the fall and early 

winter began thawing in February. In March, April, and May the soil at a depth 

of one-half inch was moist and frost-free. Decomposition of cotton bags, fine 

leaves and stems, and other organic material by fungi and other organisms was 

rather rapid in the moist, frost-free soil under deep snow. Growth of established 

perennial grasses under the snow cover was observed in the pit dug in March 

and in all pits dug later. Observations and research that led to this publication 

came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

021. Bleak, A. T. 1968. Growth and yield of legumes in mixtures with grasses on 

a mountain range. Journal of Range Management 21(4): 259-261.

Nine legumes, including three strains of variegated alfalfa, were planted in mixture 

with each of four grasses in the fall of 1950. Alfalfa A-169 was the most productive 

legume. In 1965 it yielded 100 lb/acre, about 35percent more than cicer milkvetch 

or Ladak alfalfa and 160 lb/acre more than sickle milkvetch or Rhizoma alfalfa. 

Siberian alfalfa was clearly inferior to all the above. Flat pea, birdsfoot trefoil, and 

perennial vetch disappeared from the plots early in the study. Intermediate and 

crested wheatgrasses were more productive than smooth brome, both in combination with legumes and as pure stands. The highest yielding plots in 1965 were those 

originally sown to mountain brome. This short-lived grass afforded less competition to the legumes that became well established prior to invasion by crested and 

intermediate wheatgrass or smooth brome grass. The use of a legume with grass, 

on the average, increased production by 144 lb/acre. Observations and research 

that led to this publication came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 13

022. Bleak, Alvin T. 1970. Disappearance of plant material under a winter snow 

cover. Ecology 51(5): 915-917.

Disappearance of plant material from fine-mesh nylon bags occurred during the 

late fall, winter, or early spring when mountain ranges in central Utah are generally 

snow covered. Quantitative loss of matter from leaves and stems of two grasses 

and two broad-leaved forbs was mostly attributed to decomposition by fungi and 

bacteria and to leaching. Loss of material from bags in direct contact with the snow 

cover during two consecutive winter periods averaged 30 percent for the relatively 

coarse Agropyron trachycaulum, 39 percent for Bromus inermis, 48 percent for 

Lupinus alpestris, and 51 percent for Mertensia arizonica var, leonardi. The ratio 

of leaf to stem weights decreased with all aspects. Observations and research that 

led to this publication came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

023. Bleak, A. T.; Plummer, A. Perry. 1954. Grazing crested wheatgrass by sheep. 

Journal of Range Management 7(2): 63-68.

Planting depleted spring-fall range with adapted grasses in the Intermountain region 

is now an important enterprise. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) is presently the best for seeding these ranges and is in widespread use. A grazing study 

with sheep was conducted on six, 11⁄2-acre dryland pastures in typical spring-fall 

range in Utah with crested wheatgrass as the dominant species. Beardless bluebunch 

wheatgrass and bulbous bluegrass occurred as secondary components. Three intensities of use were applied (light, moderate and heavy) with grazing starting when 

crested wheatgrass was 2 to 3 inches high (early) and 4 to 5 inches high (deferred). 

After 7 years of grazing, injurious effects were obvious where crested wheatgrass 

had been heavily utilized (88 percent use). Under heavy grazing, production decreased, most grass clumps were dead in the middle, plants were small, and there 

was a marked growth of Russian thistle generally over the pastures. Although 

production declined with aging of the seeded stands, crested wheatgrass appears 

to have maintained equally good production under light (59 percent) and moderate 

(71 percent) use during this first 7 years. Observations and research that led to this 

publication came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

024. Brown, Peter M.; Heyerdahl, Emily K.; Kitchen, Stanley G.; Weber, Marc H. 

2008. Climate effects on historical fires (1630-1900) in Utah. International 

Journal of Wildland Fire 17(1): 28-39.

The association between climate effects and fire occurrence from 1630 to 1900 

were constructed for a new set of cross dated fire-scar chronologies from 18 forested sites in Utah, including the Great Basin Experimental Range, and one site 

in eastern Nevada. Years with regionally synchronous fires (31 years with fire at 

>20 percent of sites) occurred during drier than average summers and years with 

no fires at any site (100 years) were wetter than average. Antecedent wet summers 

were associated with regional-fire years in mixed-conifer and ponderosa pine forest 

types, possibly by affecting fine fuel amount and continuity. NINO3 (an index of 
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the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, ENSO) was significantly low during regional-fire 

years (La Niñas) and significantly high during non-fire years (El Niños). NINO3 

also was high during years before regional-fire years. Although regional fire years 

occurred nearly twice as often as expected when NINO3 and the Pacific Decadal 

Oscillation were both in their cool (negative) phases, this pattern was not statistically significant. Palmer drought Severity Index was important for fire occurrence 

in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests across the study area but ENSO forcing 

was seen only in southeastern sites. Results support findings from previous fire 

and climate studies, including a possible geographic pivot point in Pacific basin 

teleconnections at ̴ 40 °N.

025. Chapline, W. R. 1929. Range research of the U.S. Forest Service. Journal of 

American Society of Agronomy 21(6): 644-649.

The continued prosperity of the range livestock industry depends on improving and 

maintaining the range resource. This industry, with ranches and livestock worth 

nearly 2 billion dollars, makes use of 587 million acres of rangelands or nearly 

one-third of the total land area of the United States. Nearly 70 percent of the feed 

for all the livestock in the 11 far western states is obtained from grazing the native 

forage on timbered and other rangeland. The productivity of national forest ranges 

has increased about 25 percent in the last 15 to 20 years through regulation and 

the application of improved principles developed by research. On the other hand, 

most other range areas have continued to decline until, on the average, they are at 

least 50 percent below their producing possibilities. The range research of the Forest Service is largely concentrated at three stations: the Great Basin Experimental 

Range in central Utah, the Santa Rita Range Reserve in southern Arizona, and the 

Jornada Range Reserve in southern New Mexico.

026. Chapline, W. R. 1931. Erosion dares the West. American Forests 37(8): 

470-474.

On an experimental watershed on the Wasatch Plateau in Utah (Great Basin Experimental Range) where past overgrazing had depleted the vegetative cover until 

it occupied only about 16 percent of the surface, an average of 8 to 9 tons per acre 

of soil were eroded annually between 1915 and 1920. Starting with the latter date, 

effort was made to increase the plant cover as rapidly as possible by artificial and 

natural reseeding and since 1923 the watershed has supported an average cover 

of 40 percent. By comparing results with a check watershed, it was found that the 

increase in vegetation from a 16 percent cover to one of 40 percent brought about 

a 64 percent reduction in surface run-off from summer rains and a 54 percent 

reduction in sediment removed by these rain storms. These Utah studies by the 

Intermountain Station show that under extreme depletion of soil and plant cover it 

requires many years of careful management to restore watershed values. They also 

show that total exclusion of livestock from ranges is not necessary except where 

the plant cover has been almost eliminated and the fertile parts of the soil carried 

away. They emphasize the essential need for effective regulation of grazing.
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027. Chapline, W. R. 1944. The history of western range research. Agricultural 

History 18(3): 127-143.

Range research furnishes basic information, guides, and procedures for the intelligent use and management of range lands for grazing. The growth of this field of 

science in relation to the western range has been gradual, following the development of the West and reflecting the increasing realization of the need for more and 

still more facts to obtain the highest use and maximum benefits of the Nation’s 

vast resources. The collection of information on western grazing started with the 

notes and observations made by early explorers, military leaders, and missionaries. Range research progressed very slowly during the opening and settling of the 

western grazing grounds by the cattle kings and homesteaders. Its real growth began 

in response to the necessities arising from the Federal policy of forest reservation 

and administration; administration of the forest reserves made regulated use of the 

range just as necessary as regulated utilization of the timber. The building up of a 

sound body of data for stock ranges at grazing capacity during suitable seasons, 

and development of range research has lagged far behind the need. Deterioration of 

ranges still exists in large areas. Although some formal grazing experiments were 

begun by 1910, the development of range research has approached the needed comprehensive program only since about 1935. This development has been the result 

of recognition of the value and need for range research accompanied by intensified 

use of public and private ranges in a progressive national agriculture enterprise. 

Observations and research that led to this publication came, in part, from the Great 

Basin Experimental Range.

028. Clark, Ira. 1945. Variability in growth characteristics of forage plants on 

summer range in central Utah. Journal of Forestry 43(4): 273-283.

Marked variability in the growth characteristics of range grasses was demonstrated 

in a four-year study of several grasses common on mountainous summer ranges in 

the Intermountain region. A lack of constancy in growth form was the rule rather 

than the exception. This is due to seasonal weather conditions, density of stand, 

previous grazing treatment, available moisture and mineral nutrients, and other site 

factors. Variability in yield and growth characteristics in range plants from year to 

year and from site to site is of practical significance to stockmen and range managers 

since it greatly affects the accuracy and suitability of the various methods available 

for determining the current degree of range use. Observations and research that 

led to this publication came, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

029. Clary, Warren P.; Tiedemann, Arthur R. 1987. Distribution of biomass within 

small tree and shrub form Quercus gambelii stands. Forest Science 32(1): 

234-242.

Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii Nutt.) occupies approximately 3.5 million ha in 

the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It is becoming recognized 

as an important fuelwood resource. Design of appropriate management strategies 
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requires information on the biomass distribution characteristics within these stands. 

Biomass components of eight Gambel oak small tree and shrub form stands (clones) 

were sampled in Utah. Stem densities ranged from 5,000 to 34,000 per ha of clone. 

Mean stem diameters varied from 36 to 117 mm. Live stems averaged 4,992 g 

including dead branches, while standing dead stems averaged 1.347 g. Live biomass per occupied hectare averaged 124,388 kg including 40,704 kg of bole. The 

ratio of aboveground to belowground live biomasses was unusually low—44:56. 

Total aboveground and belowground biomass including detritus was 184,292 kg 

per hectare of clone. Observations and research that led to this publication came, 

in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

030. Clary, Warren P.; Tiedemann, Arthur R. 1993. Bole volume growth in stems 

of Quercus gambelii. Great Basin Naturalist 53(2): 162-167.

Shrub-form and tree-form Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) stands contain a potentially significant fuelwood resource. Information on their growth characteristics 

can form a basis for future stand management. Stem analyses showed that height 

growth of shrub-form stems essentially ceased after age 50, while tree-form stems 

continued to increase in height until approximately age 100. Both stem forms 

continued to increase in basal area and volume at a relatively constant rate as the 

stems increased in age and size. Increases in all size measures were substantially 

greater in tree-form stems than in shrub-form stems. Mean bole volume for treeform stems at age 100 was over 16 times that of shrub-form stems. Sprouts from 

tree-form stands would reach minimum size for fuelwood marketing in approximately 45 years. Observations and research that led to this publication came, in 

part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

031. Costello, David F.; Price, Raymond. 1939. Weather and plant-development data 

as determinants of grazing periods on mountain range. Tech. Bull. No. 686. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 31 p.

To determine proper opening grazing periods of mountain ranges it is important 

to have knowledge about (1) the normal growth and development of the principal 

forage plants at different altitudinal zones, (2) the fluctuation in seasonal growth 

and development of the plants from year to year, and (3) the more readily measured 

climatic factors related to the growth and development of the plants. Observations 

and measurements of weather and range plant development in Ephraim Canyon, 

Utah, by the Great Basin Branch (Great Basin Experimental Range) of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station during the 10-year period 1925-

1934 furnish information on these problems. The vegetation in Ephraim Canyon 

with the elevational limits of the study is of three major types or zones: oakbrush, 

6,500 to 8,000 feet; aspen-fir, 7,500 to 9,000 feet; and the spruce-fir, 9,000 feet 

and above. Temperature and precipitation vary between zones. Average monthly 

temperatures is 42.6, 30.0, and 32.5 °F. in the lower, middle, and upper zones 

respectively. Average annual precipitation for the same zones is 17.51, 29.48 and 

20.01 inches. The average length of the growing season for different elevations 
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in Ephraim Canyon is 175 days at 7,000 feet; 160 days at 8,000 feet; 145 days at 

9,000 feet; and 125 days at 10,000 feet. It is notable that each individual species 

of mountain range forage plant has its own specific rate of growth and development. Growth rates vary both within and between vegetation classes and each has 

a specific rate of development. Finally, earlier growth stages develop more rapidly than later stages. The rate of development varies with altitude, being delayed 

from 10 to 14 days for each 1,000-foot increase in elevation. Height growth at any 

particular date decreases with increase in elevation largely due to higher average 

temperatures at the lower altitudes.

032. Craddock, George W. 1948. Insuring Utah’s water supplies through watershed 

research. Utah Magazine 10(9): 14-15, 27, 29.

Water supply issues of too little usable water and too much muddy water call for more 

knowledge about the runoff behavior of the mountainous watershed lands. Many 

questions need to be addressed. How do these watersheds yield their water? Has 

man, through his exploitation of the mineral forage and timber resources, increased 

the floods and the sediment load of the stream? If so, can eroding soil be stabilized 

and can erratic stream flow be brought under control? Additional questions include: 

Does timber harvesting, grazing, and construction damage watersheds to the extent 

that the resources on mountain watersheds need to be excluded from human use? 

Two laboratories in Utah have been developed to get answers to these important 

questions. The first of these was established in 1912 on the high plateau above 

Ephraim on the Wasatch Plateau known as the Great Basin Research Center (Great 

Basin Experimental Range). In 1933, a second laboratory—the Wasatch Research 

Center—was developed on the steep western front of the Wasatch Mountains east 

of Farmington. These are outdoor laboratories in which small and large watersheds 

are studied through the entire hydrologic cycle.

033. Craddock, George W. 1954. Water yield from snow as affected by consumptive 

water losses. In: Stockwell, Homer J.; Lamoreux, Wallace W.; Odell, John 

M.; Wilson, Milton T., publication committee. Proceedings of the Western 

Snow Conference, twenty-second annual meeting; 1954 April 19-21; Salt 

Lake City, UT. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado A and M College, Multigraph 

Service Bureau: 70-73.

The snow that accumulates each winter on high elevation forest and rangelands 

has long been known to be the principal source of the water supply for most of the 

West. The conservation of that snow resource has become a major concern as demands for more water have grown apace with the needs of an expanding economy. 

There are several possibilities of meeting the future water needs of the West. One 

is to build more storage dams and transmountain diversions. Another option is to 

tap more of the ground water basins. There is also room for reducing the waste 

of already developed water supplies by improving water conveyance systems and 

by using water more efficiently. In addition, there is the possibility of reducing 

the consumptive losses of snow water by altering the vegetation on the watershed 
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lands where runoff begins. The idea of reducing evapo-transpiration losses of snow 

water by watershed management practices is both intriguing and hydrologically 

sound. There is evidence, however, that the benefits that may accrue from changing 

the plant cover may be offset by a number of adverse effects. The purpose of this 

paper is to point out some of these conflicting possibilities in the hope of clarifying 

the thinking about watershed management problems, especially those within the 

Intermountain region. Data from four kinds of summer range cover was collected 

at the Great Basin Research Center (Great Basin Experimental Range) in central 

Utah. The four kinds of cover included pure stands of smooth bromegrass, timothy, 

Kentucky bluegrass, and a mixture of dandelion and sweetsage. The latter mixture 

is commonly found on depleted, high elevation, herbaceous rangeland. The difference between the field moisture capacity of the soil following the spring snowmelt 

and the depleted moisture content in the fall plus the amount of summer rainfall 

provided a basis for estimating the seasonal evapotranspiration losses. The difference between the late fall soil moisture content and field capacity also provided 

a basis for determining differences in water recharge requirements and amounts 

of water that would be available for streamflow from the next year’s snow pack. 

Estimates of forage production were obtained by clipping and weighing current 

plant growth. Smooth brome plots consumed the most water, produced the most 

forage, and made the most efficient use of the water consumed. The 350 pounds 

of forage per acre produced per inch of water consumed is about as good as can 

be obtained on irrigated valley lands. By comparison, areas with timothy consumed 0.79 inch less water and produced less than half as much forage. Kentucky 

bluegrass areas consumed about 1.00 inch less water than those with timothy but 

were more efficient in the use of water. The weed areas consumed the least water 

but were also by far the least efficient in forage production. The variability in the 

water consuming efficiency of these four types of summer range cover suggests 

the possibility of achieving different objectives on range watershed lands.

034. Croft, A. R. 1944. Evaporation from snow. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 25: 334-337.

A phase of the hydrologic cycle of drainage basins in the Intermountain Region 

about which more should be known is the loss of water by evaporation directly from 

the snow mantle. Snow that supplies most of the water for stream flow covers large 

parts of drainages from 4 to 8 months of each year; no doubt considerable water 

is lost by evaporation. A preliminary study was made of evaporation from snow 

under three site conditions on an important watershed of the Great Basin Experimental Range on the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. A knowledge of water lost 

to evaporation from snow aids in obtaining a more complete understanding of the 

hydrologic cycle. In this region irrigation water is of extremely high economic value 

and much of that comes from melted snow. Timber stands make up a substantial 

part of the vegetation of the watershed; it may be possible through cutting methods 

to control wind movement so as to decrease evaporation and increase stream flow.
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035. Croft, A. R. 1944. Snow melting and evaporation. Science 100(2591): 

169-170.

Melting and evaporation of snow during the winter and spring seasons on the high 

mountains and plateaus of the Intermountain Region are processes of considerable 

interest to water users in the adjacent arid valleys because they have a direct bearing 

on the timeliness, rate and amount of stream flow that becomes available during the 

remainder of the year for irrigation, power, and other purposes. Records show that 

snow accumulates on the watershed lands during November 1 to April 1 to depths 

of from 4 to 10 feet, and that the snow mantle just prior to active melting in the 

spring may contain from 10 to 50 inches of water. Relatively little is known, about 

the rate at which the snow melts or the amount of water that is lost from the snow 

mantle by evaporation. To augment the meager knowledge of these phenomena, 

preliminary studies of snow melting and evaporation were conducted at elevations 

from 8,700 to 10,000 feet on a portion of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah (Great 

Basin Experimental Range) during the snow melting season of 1942.

036. Croft, A. R.; Marston, Richard B. 1944. Some recharge-phenomena of a 

Wasatch Plateau watershed. Transactions, American Geophysical Union 1943: 

460-464.

One of the biggest gaps in the knowledge of the hydrology of high watersheds 

of the Intermountain Region is the lack of understanding of the phenomena that 

occur from the time a deposit of snow begins to melt and the time that part of the 

melted snow-water appears as stream-flow. The part played by snow in watershedrecharge, snow-melting rates, and the factors that influence them—movement of 

melted-snow water through the snow, overland flow beneath snow and on bare soilsurfaces, infiltration-capacities of snow-covered surface and subsurface-soils, and 

duration and movement of gravitational water in the watershed-mantle—are some 

of the processes about which only meager knowledge, or none at all is available. 

This paper reports the results of measurements and observations of some of these 

phenomena on a 99-acre watershed inside the Manti Forest, on the west face of 

the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah on the Great Basin Experimental Range. This 

watershed is known as “A-B Drainage” and is one of the ten watersheds that range 

from 9 to 1,645 acres in area and are tributary to Ephraim Creek. The Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station is making comprehensive studies on the 

watersheds to determine the effect on stream-flow characteristics of mechanical 

water-flow-control structures located in the recharge-zone. The watersheds are now 

being calibrated for stream-flow. The data presented in this report are representative 

of those that are being secured during the calibration period.

037. Davis, James N. 2004. Research background. In: Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, 

Richard; Shaw, Nancy L., comps. Restoring western ranges and wildlands. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS GTR-136. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 15-17.
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Establishment of the Great Basin Experimental Range in 1912 generated a variety 

of range and watershed research within the Intermountain Region. The watershed 

management, effects of grazing on vegetative cover, and relationships of these to 

erosive flooding from high intensity summer storms as well as revegetation trials by 

vegetative cuttings and seeds on areas that had been depleted by overgrazing were 

documented and provided impetus to further research and management activities 

by land managers and researchers.

038. Ellison, Lincoln. 1942. Overlays as a visual aid in analysis of permanent 

quadrat records. Ecology 23(4): 482-484.

Overlays are useful in analysis because they 

simplify and, at the same time, preserve the 

pictorial value of quadrat charts. In using 

them, the ecologist is freed from a burden of 

irrelevant details, particularly those arising 

from variations in field methods, and is enabled to devote full attention to his essential 

task. The principal values of overlays are 

four: they assist in detecting general trends; 

they help account for puzzling fluctuations 

resulting from variation in method; they help 

correct omissions from the original charts 

and field errors in identification; and they 

facilitate study of the history of individual 

plants. Permanent quadrat records are an 

important data repository for the Great Basin 

Experimental Range.

039. Ellison, Lincoln. 1943. What is range improvement? The Ames Forester 21: 

15-22.

The term “range improvement” is used very freely, but it is seldom defined. The 

term might appear to be so easily understood as to make definition unnecessary, yet 

its great variation in significance, as used by range managers, makes clear that the 

term means different things to different people. Perhaps the most unquestionable 

evidence of improvement is considered to be the appearance of species higher in 

the normal succession and the disappearance of species representing lower stages. 

Improvement of the soil is referred to rather incidentally, for if improvement of the 

soil is considered at all, it is generally assumed to accompany improvement of the 

vegetation, which is not necessarily true. Broad-scale ecological studies show that the 

two processes, soil formation and the development of vegetation, are interdependent, 

and that over centuries a deep soil will develop from raw parent material. The two 

processes are so interlocked in complexity that each is both an effect and a cause 

of the other. There is no reason to believe that the two processes may seem to be 

independent for short periods. An example from the Wasatch Plateau of the Great 

Basin Experimental Range makes the point. A m2

 quadrat compared in 1919 and 

Lincoln Ellison
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1940 showed the predominant Achillea had changed to Agropyron and the number 

of plant shoots and biomass had increased by orders of magnitude. However the soil 

surface remained unstable and even degraded. Judging by the biomass and type of 

plant present in 1940, the range had “improved.” There is a paradox: improvement 

of vegetation quality but depletion of soil continues—two antagonistic processes 

occurring side by side. How is this paradox to be explained? Succession cannot 

be explained so simply, it is more complex; some important problems of range 

research and range management are for future research.

040. Ellison, Lincoln. 1946. The pocket gopher in relation to soil erosion on mountain range. Ecology 27(2): 101-114.

In what is considered to be a representative part of the subalpine zone of the 

Wasatch Plateau on the Great Basin Experimental Range in central Utah, annual 

displacement of soil to the surface by pocket gophers was found in 1941 to be at 

least 5 tons per acre and to cover 3.5 percent of the surface. The base population 

of pocket gophers is estimated to be somewhere between 4 and 16 animals per 

acre. Most pocket-gopher activity is confined to herbaceous vegetal types where, 

as a result of grazing, the disturbed soil is most liable to exposure to the elements. 

Gopher diggings are absent within areas of spruce-fir timber. There is a tendency 

for gopher diggings to be cast out into bare spaces between masses of vegetation 

where the loose soil is most exposed to atmospheric influences and consequent 

erosion. There is a similar tendency for gopher diggings to be concentrated in gullies where the soil is readily swept away by spring runoff and runoff from summer 

storms. Both these effects are pronounced in proportion as range is depleted; on 

range in good condition, where the cover is not patchy but practically complete, 

and where gullies are absent, they are relatively unimportant. The tendency for the 

pocket gopher to displace soil consistently downhill is one factor in normal erosional 

creep, and its magnitude is abnormally increased in proportion as protective vegetation is absent. No evidence has been found on the Wasatch Plateau that tunnels 

of pocket gophers concentrate overland flow in a degree to create gullies, unless, 

possibly, abnormal surficial runoff is induced by other causes. Delayed infiltration, 

the cause of gully-cutting runoff, cannot be attributed to pocket-gopher activities. 

On the contrary, loosening of soil and formation of minor irregularities on the soil 

surface by pocket gophers no doubt increase rapidity of infiltration. No evidence 

has been found on the Wasatch Plateau that pocket gophers destroy vegetation to 

a sufficient degree to cause accelerated erosion. Pocket-gopher diggings provide 

a surface for establishment of vegetation that is less favorable than an undisturbed 

soil surface with a vegetal cover, but apparently more favorable than a severely 

eroded surface. They seem to be instrumental in bringing about revegetation of some 

erosion-pavement areas. The pocket gopher is an agent in both geologic normal 

and in accelerated erosion. However, the pocket gopher is not the primary cause 

of accelerated erosion on the Wasatch Plateau. The primary cause of accelerated 

erosion is overgrazing. The amount of accelerated soil loss resulting from pocket 

gopher activity is related to the degree to which the soil mantle is dissected and 

the soil surface bared by man’s abuse of the land.
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041. Ellison, Lincoln. 1947. Subalpine vegetation of the Wasatch Plateau. Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota. 365 p. Dissertation.

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the character of the original vegetation in the subalpine zone of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah, which has been 

greatly modified since settlement, and to describe the changes that vegetation 

has undergone, primarily as a result of grazing by livestock. Even though great 

increases in vegetation have occurred in many parts of the subalpine zone during 

the last 40 years since grazing has been better regulated, the changes in vegetation 

on permanent quadrats during the past decade or two suggest that this upward trend 

has ceased. It appears, therefore, that management practices that succeed in raising 

the range from the lowest stage in secondary succession may still not be adequate 

for continuing improvement. It is clearly evident that losses of soil by accelerated 

erosion are continuing. Once well under way, accelerated erosion acquires a momentum that is increasingly difficult for vegetation to stop unaided. Stabilization 

of many slopes that have been eroding for years before all soil is lost, appears 

impossible, without artificial help. In considering changes in vegetation and soil, 

the process of accelerated erosion must be recognized as something distinct from 

succession. Accelerated soil erosion is not a successional process, or the converse 

of soil development: it is simply soil destruction. When the entire soil mantle has 

been stripped away, leaving only bedrock or erosion pavement, rapid improvement 

through secondary succession is no longer possible; the only possibility of improvement is by the painfully slow process of soil formation and primary succession. 

This work was performed, in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

042. Ellison, Lincoln. 1948. Bettering management of Utah’s range lands. Utah 

Magazine 10(9): 8-13, 25-27.

For the most part, the grazing lands of Utah are “wild” lands. They are the lands 

not suited to intensive agriculture because they cannot be irrigated, or because 

they are too rough, steep, or rocky to plow, or because their summer growing 

season is too short for cultivated crops. From the standpoint of area alone, they 

are the most important in Utah, making up well over four-fifths of the land area 

of the state. Although the rangelands of Utah are thought of as grazing lands for 

cattle, sheep, and other domestic livestock they have other uses and yield other 

benefits to man. Some are important for timber, many as watersheds, and all in 

some degree as habitats for wildlife. They are most widely used when they yield 

a maximum of these benefits in balanced proportion and in continuing supply. In 

referring to “grazing lands,” therefore, it is primarily of forage values that are of 

primary consideration, but with other human values, practical and esthetic, always 

in mind. Range management research is multifaceted. Part of its effort is devoted 

to mountainous summer ranges, part to foothill and valley spring-fall ranges, and 

part to desert winter ranges. Studies are being carried out on big game as well 

as livestock range use. Many of these studies are cooperative with other persons 

or agencies. On winter range studies, private individuals and the U.S. Bureau of 

Land Management cooperate; on spring-fall range studies, the Bureau of Animal 

Industry; on big game-livestock studies, Utah State Fish and Game Commission, 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 23

Utah State Agricultural College and Experiment Station, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Range management problems, 

in other words, are being attacked on a wide front, on many kinds of lands. The 

research results apply, therefore, to land in all kinds of ownership, Federal, state 

and private. Observations and research results leading to this review were obtained, 

in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

043. Ellison, Lincoln. 1949. Establishment of vegetation on depleted subalpine 

range as influenced by microenvironment. Ecological Monographs 19(2): 

95-121.

This paper deals primarily with certain depleted plant communities of the subalpine 

upland-herb association of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. Here much of the 

original herbaceous vegetation was destroyed by overgrazing years ago. Widespread soil erosion, less severe today than formerly, but still occurring, is the rule 

rather than the exception. Reinvasion of vegetation has been strongly influenced 

by grazing pressure and erosion. Only a small proportion of the area of herbaceous 

uplands in the subalpine zone has yet had its soil adequately stabilized by vegetation. Permanent plot records show that soil surfaces that are essentially bare of 

perennial vegetation may persist in that condition for many years. At the same 

time, adjacent surfaces covered with a growth of dense, rhizomatous vegetation, 

particularly Penstemon rydbergii, maintain their identity, and under some conditions change very little in appearance, over similarly long periods. A corollary of 

this observation is that new plants of other species tend for the most part to become 

established within the Penstemon patches, not in the bare spaces where they are 

most needed for soil protection. Other rhizomatous species, Achillea lanulosa, 

Artemisia discolor, Erigeron ursinus, and Aster foliaceus form similar, though less 

persistent, patches, and harbor seedlings of later invaders. Evidence of association 

between new plants and established vegetation may be observed rather generally. 

A number of transects and permanent quadrats in depleted upland-herb communities are described for illustration. A similar tendency is observed in the low-shrub 

community in the subalpine zone dominated by Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus. The 

community spreads to eroding land by the establishment of young Chrysothamnus

plants in tufts of Stipa lettermani. Essentially similar observations are reported 

from the oakbrush zone of the Wasatch Plateau, and the subalpine zones of the 

Aquarius Plateau and Wallowa Mountains. Planting experiments in the subalpine 

zone of the Wasatch Plateau corroborate these observations. Agropyron trachycaulum was planted within patches of Penstemon, at edges of patches, and in 

adjacent, relatively bare openings. Survival of grass seedlings was greatest inside 

patches of Penstemon, least in openings. Intensity in degree of association varies. 

Most species show a tendency for positive association, but with some species no 

such tendency is shown (e.g. Stellaria); with some others, negative association or 

dissociation may be detected (e.g. Viola). It is unfortunate for the land that those 

species that show dissociation most strongly, and grow in the openings more than 

any others, are generally ephemeral in character and least effective as cover. Intensity of association also varies with character of season, as shown by permanent 
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quadrat records. A correlated observation is that the more severe the site, in terms of 

instability and physical condition of the surface soil, the stronger the tendency for 

association. Intensity of association appears to vary directly, too, with intensity of 

grazing and trampling by livestock. Among biotic factors that might be considered 

responsible for the presence of new plants in patches of established vegetation and 

their absence in openings, grazing animals are certainly important. Heavy grazing 

and trampling were what originally denuded the herbaceous uplands of the Wasatch 

Plateau. While grazing animals help to maintain the patchiness of vegetation, they 

are not more than a contributing cause to the phenomenon of association described 

in this paper. Those associations are demonstrated, both by observation and experiment, where livestock have been excluded. Subterranean foraging by pocket 

gophers may be a factor, and probably the tendency of pocket gophers to disturb 

more soil in openings than in patches of densely rhizomatous vegetation helps to 

keep the openings bare. Yet in places where pocket-gopher activity was not evident, 

seedling survival was still relatively low in openings. So far as edaphic factors are 

concerned, there appear to be no inherent differences in the soil of vegetal patches 

and openings. The soils are different, physically and chemically, and the difference 

results from the presence of established vegetation in one place in contrast to its 

absence in another. These differences probably influence association, but they are 

not decisive, for the same denuded soil experimental plantings under shade gave 

much better results than in the open. These plantings also rule out the possibility 

that chemical growth substances, which might be given off by established vegetation, are responsible for association. The planting experiments confirm a conclusion toward which observational evidence points. This is that moisture at and near 

the soil surface, together with soil instability are the most important factors in 

explaining association of new plants with established vegetation and absence of 

new plants in openings. Temperature is less extreme under vegetation than in the 

open, and frost heaving of the soil is less common. Moisture in the surface soil 

persists longer under vegetation than in the open. In short, from the standpoint 

of a seedling plant, the water balance in openings is less favorable than under 

established vegetation. Demonstrable association leads to the conclusion that the 

favorable influence of vegetation on microenvironment outweighs its influence in 

competition, which presumably is greater within established vegetation than away 

from it. Observed association, therefore, appears to be a resultant of two opposed 

forces or factor complexes. This conclusion is supported by the observation that 

association is more marked as the surface of exposed bare spaces is more eroded, or 

more unstable, or as current rainfall is more deficient. A range-watershed manager 

is concerned with bringing about restoration of vegetal cover as quickly as possible. 

The observations reported in this paper indicate that he should regulate grazing so 

as to provide, through the influence of vegetation already on the ground, the best 

possible microenvironment for establishing new plants. This work was performed, 

in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

044. Ellison, Lincoln. 1949. The ecological basis for judging condition and trend 

on mountain range land. Journal of Forestry 47(10): 786-795.
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Accurate judgment of range condition and trend on mountain rangeland of the West 

is no cut-and-dried matter. This fact is highlighted by a tendency toward increasing conservatism in grazing-capacity estimates over the years. Recently there have 

been sharp disagreements about proper management practices between livestock 

operators and officials responsible for management of public lands, and, in some 

instances, by wide differences of opinion among range managers themselves. A 

better understanding of the ecology of mountain rangeland is needed to help reduce 

these differences. This paper attempts to fill this need to the extent of explaining the 

ecological basis of the concepts condition and trend. It is written from the experience of more than a decade of ecological research on subalpine range-watershed 

lands in central Utah. Several conclusions have been drawn: (1) Since the range is a 

complex of closely interrelated parts normally in essential balance with one another, 

a standard of integrity should be provided against which range condition may be 

judged. (2) As a result of these interrelationships and because of the reactions of 

plants and animals on the environment, orderly change (primary succession) takes 

place without loss of integrity in the complex—this change is much too slow to 

be manipulated practically by the land manager. (3) Secondary successions result 

from disturbance of the complex but, by definition, accompanying long-continued 

soil erosion is not considered successional. Secondary successions are much more 

rapid than primary successions, and are capable of being manipulated by the land 

manager so as to produce desired results within a reasonable time. (4) When 

disturbance is so extreme as to destroy integrity in the complex, as evidenced 

by accelerated erosion, the terms succession—which should imply an integrated 

complex is no longer appropriate—and destructive change are applied in its place. 

(5) Range condition must be judged on the basis of the normal potential of the site. 

What this normal potential is can be ascertained most practicably by comparison 

with natural areas that have never been grazed. (6) While condition on eroded but 

now stabilized soils properly requires new standards, the closest approximations 

now available are research natural areas. (7) In judgment of range condition, soil 

stability is paramount in importance; forage values are secondary. Where soil is 

eroding, conditions are unsatisfactory. Where soil is stable, conditions may be 

satisfactory or unsatisfactory, depending on the desirableness of the vegetation in 

relation to the management objectives. (8) Where soil is eroding at an accelerated 

rate, the trend is downward. Improvement while soil is eroding is very nearly a 

logical impossibility and, from a practical standpoint, so is judging range trend. 

(9) Trend where soil is stable may be either upward or downward. It is to be judged 

by evidence of change in vegetal composition toward dominance either by more 

desirable or less desirable species. Observations and research results leading to this 

review were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

045. Ellison, Lincoln. 1954. Subalpine vegetation of the Wasatch Plateau, Utah. 

Ecological Monographs 24(2): 89-184.

The purposes of this study are to reconstruct the character of the original vegetation in the subalpine zone of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah, which has been 

greatly modified since settlement, and to describe the changes it has undergone 
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as a result of grazing by livestock. Most attention is given the herbaceous vegetation of dry and mesic sites. To understand this vegetation it has been necessary to 

work out the salient characteristics of soil development and primary succession. 

The principal communities examined were (1) forb-dominated communities on 

cattle range, (2) grass-dominated communities on sheep range, (3) low-shrub 

communities, (4) communities of ephemeral species, and (5) erosion-pavement 

communities. Even though great increases in vegetation have occurred in many 

parts of the subalpine zone during the last 40 years since grazing has been better 

regulated, the changes in vegetation on permanent quadrats during the past decade or two suggest that this upward trend has ceased. It appears, therefore, that 

management practices that succeed in raising the range from the lowest stage in 

secondary succession may still not be adequate for continuing improvement. It is 

clearly evident that losses of soil by accelerated erosion are continuing. Once well 

under way, accelerated erosion acquires a momentum that is increasingly difficult 

for vegetation to stop unaided. Stabilization of many slopes that have been eroding for years appears impossible without artificial help. In considering changes 

in vegetation and soil, the process of accelerated erosion must be recognized as 

something distinct from succession. Accelerated soil erosion is not a successional 

process, the converse of soil development; it is simply soil destruction. When the 

entire soil mantle has been stripped away, leaving only bedrock or erosion pavement, rapid improvement through secondary succession is no longer possible; the 

only possibility of improvement is by the painfully slow process of soil formation 

and primary succession. Observations and research results presented in this article 

were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

046. Ellison, Lincoln. 1959. Role of plant succession in range improvement. In: 

Grasslands. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of 

Science: 307-321.

This review article draws, in part, on experience and observations at the Great Basin 

Experimental Range. A central question is how it is possible to maintain a high 

level of range productivity under grazing with secondary plant succession. Logic 

argues that productivity cannot be maintained because depletion, as a result of selective grazing, appears to have no end and because most of the claimed benefits of 

grazing are unconvincing. On the other hand, experience argues that productivity 

can be maintained because of examples of range improvement under grazing and 

because of the persistence of palatable plants on natural ranges where they have 

been grazed by wild animals over many thousands of years. The answer appears 

to lie in consideration of the response of vegetation to its total environment. Range 

plant composition and productivity are determined in part by grazing pressure. Other 

factors, such as recurrent drought and interactions between plant species, may be 

just as or more important. Some species that are severely handicapped and reduced 

by heavy grazing are otherwise well adapted to the environment. In the course of 

succession under grazing, their place is commonly taken by opportunists that are 

unpalatable or that by other means escape the handicap of heavy grazing. When 

grazing pressure is lightened, at least some of the more palatable members of the 

original vegetation are able to reassert themselves, and other factors, such as the 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 27

competition of these species, reduce the opportunists. It is probably too much to 

say that pristine vegetation can be maintained under livestock grazing. Experience 

is generally showing, nevertheless, that a level of productivity much closer to the 

pristine can be maintained than has previously been supposed possible.

047. Ellison, Lincoln. 1960. Influence of grazing on plant succession of rangelands. 

Botanical Review 26(1): 1-78.

This review article draws, in part, on experience and observations at the Great 

Basin Experimental Range. Succession is commonly thought of as a constructive 

process; the origins of the word suggest growth and progress. In primary succession the development of soil with its contained organisms, including the complex 

vegetation it supports, is certainly a constructive process. Most of the familiar forms 

of secondary succession are also constructive in character. In contrast, secondary 

successions resulting from grazing are commonly thought of as being other than 

constructive. There are enough examples of severe overgrazing of range vegetation that it is generally known that reduction of plant cover by overgrazing leads 

to accelerated soil erosion by wind or water. Even if grazing changes the character 

of the vegetation without reducing cover sufficiently to cause erosion, the change 

is usually toward vegetation that is less palatable to the grazing animal and somewhat less productive. Various benefits conferred by grazing animals on vegetation 

have been suggested: (1) cropping may stimulate herbage production; (2) grazing 

may help a plant endure drought by reducing the area of its transpiring surface; 

(3) grazing, by removing some of the herbage, lessens the amount of mulch and 

thus, by encouraging early spring growth, increases production; (4) grazing animals 

carry the seeds of forage species from place to place; (5) trampling helps plant 

seeds of forage species; (6) livestock trails check the overland flow of water and 

thus encourage infiltration; (7) grazing animals fertilize the range. Taken in total, 

these presumed contributions of grazing animals to the welfare of range vegetation 

are not impressive. The benefits of grazing, if any, would appear to accrue to the 

ecosystem, to the range as a whole, instead of to the palatable species of plants 

that are grazed most.

048. Ellison, Lincoln; Aldous, C. M. 1952. Influence of pocket gophers on vegetation of subalpine grassland in central Utah. Ecology 33(2): 177-186.

Half of a 4-acre fenced plot in the subalpine zone on the Great Basin Experimental 

Range of the Wasatch Plateau has been systematically trapped since 1942 to free 

it from pocket gophers. Pocket gophers in the other half have not been disturbed. 

Weight of vegetation has been estimated three times: in 1942 before the effects 

of trapping could be felt, in 1944, and in 1950. At the initial trapping in the late 

summer of 1942 the gopher population was estimated to be 33 per acre, although 

some young may have dispersed by that time. Subsequent trapping twice yearly has 

reduced the adult gopher population from 23 on the 1.3-acre study area to a level 

between 2 and 8. Most of the gophers caught exert an influence on the “gophers 

absent” side only part of the year. It is believed that the gopher population on the 

“gophers present” side has increase since 1942. Results of trapping indicate that 
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an average of 3.23 young are produced per pregnant female per year, that no more 

than one litter is produced per female per year, and there is a slight excess of males 

over females. Total production of vegetation (roughly half a ton of air-dry matter 

per acre) has not been greatly changed in 8 years of treatment. There is a slight 

tendency for total production to increase where gophers are present as compared 

with where they are absent. Common dandelion has decreased strongly where 

gophers are present and has increased where they are absent. This difference is 

attributed to foraging by gophers. Mountain dandelion, however, which also has 

fleshy taproots that might be supposed equally suitable as food, has not responded 

in the same way. Rhizomatous species, with the exception of yarrow, have increased 

where gophers are present as compared with their behavior on the area from which 

gophers have been removed. This is particularly true of sweetsage. Evidently species with established underground parts are able to take over bare areas and to 

grow especially vigorously where other vegetation has been removed by gophers 

disturbing the soil. Grasses and sedges tend to increase where gophers are present 

as compared with where they are absent. Most tall forbs have increased on both 

sides of the experimental area, and annuals and ephemerals have declined. These 

trends are probably the result of exclusion of livestock. Where pocket gophers are 

present, the soil is distinctly softer and looser than where they have been removed. 

It appears probable that gophers perform a useful function in loosening the soil, a 

function that seems particularly important in heavy clay soils subject to compaction under livestock grazing.

049. Ellison, Lincoln; Croft, A. R. 1944. Principles and indicators for judging 

condition and trend of high range-watersheds. Res. Pap. 6. Ogden, UT: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range 

Experiment Station. 65 p.

Management of mountain rangelands in the semiarid West, whether it be for forge 

or water, is largely range management. These lands not only function as producers 

of stream flow, which makes possible irrigation agriculture, but they also furnish 

summer grazing to large numbers of livestock. Both of these resources are essential to the economy of the West. Changes from the normal in grazing capacity 

or in stream flow characteristics on mountain lands are preceded by changes that 

occur in the soil and plant mantles as a result of grazing use. It is the job of the 

manager and of the user of these lands to recognize such changes in their early 

stages so that use may be adjusted and destructive changes averted. To be able 

to do this—to determine the conditions and trend of the range—is fundamental 

in range-watershed management. A careful appraisal of the elements making up 

mountain range and an analysis of the significance of the indicators used is needed 

to provide a sound basis in fact for judging condition and trend. This publication 

addresses these issues by characterizing high range-watersheds—typified by the 

Great Basin Experimental Range—through discussion of the biotic community, the 

soil, the climate, topography, and interrelationships between these components; by 

discussing change in the complex through exploring succession, change and balance, and change as a result of grazing; and by discussing standards of satisfactory 

range-watershed management including management objectives. The publication 
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also explores the concept of indicators by defining them and discussing the following indicators: litter, bare soil surface, observed movement of soil, soil remnants, 

accelerated erosion pavement, gullies, blowouts, wind deposits, alluvial deposits, 

species composition, age classes of species, roadside annuals, invasion of bare 

spaces, vegetation in gullies, patchy vegetation, accessibility of palatable species, 

relics, hedged shrubs, and current utilization. The procedures for judging rangewatershed condition is explored by getting representative samples, observing and 

recording facts, and reasoning with indicators.

050. Ellison, Lincoln; Croft, A. R.; Bailey, Reed W. 1951. Indicators of condition 

and trend on high range-watersheds of the Intermountain Region. Agric. 

Handb. No. 19. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 66 p.

High mountain lands of the Intermountain West have great significance and importance to its people, even though they make up only a small fraction of its total area. 

From these highlands, the accumulation of winter snow yields year-long stream 

flow, the lifeblood of the Intermountain country. They provide summer grazing 

for domestic herds and for wild game. They furnish timber for local sawmills. 

And finally, their forests, streams, and rugged landscape provide an opportunity 

for enjoyment and inspiration to all. The vegetation of these high mountain lands 

plays a particularly important role in regulating stream flow. Grasslands, brush 

fields, and forest hold the soil in place and keep it open and porous, so that even 

the most violent summer rains are safely absorbed. When the vegetal cover is intact, overland flow is virtually unknown. On the other hand, if the vegetal cover is 

greatly reduced, dashing rains wear away the soil, etching rills and gullies into the 

watershed slopes. In many years this deterioration of the upper slopes is reflected 

only in the sediment that collects in canals and reservoirs. But in those years when 

the most intense storms occur, the eroded slopes discharge the flood waters almost 

as fast as they fall. These pour down the gullies, uniting to gut the larger channels and finally, spewing mud and boulders out of the canyon mouth, wreaking 

havoc on whatever farm, dwelling, or town that may lie in their way. Judgment of 

condition and trend depends upon ability to recognize indicators and understand 

their significance. By proper interpretation of indicators, constructive changes in 

management may be planned, and on the same basis the effectiveness of management may be evaluated later. On the other hand, unless indicators of downward 

trend are recognized accurately and unless management is geared to correct the 

causes of downward trend, costly and even irreparable damage may be done to the 

range-watershed resource. This publication is intended to help the range manager 

judge condition and trend accurately in the course of range inspection. In order to 

make best use of the evidence on the ground, the manager has three major needs: 

first, a technical foundation of ecological principles underlying the concepts of 

condition and trend; second, an understanding of condition and trend as they relate 

to the normal and to objectives in management; and third, a knowledge of indicators of condition and trend, their meanings and their limitations. Observations and 

research results leading to this review were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin 

Experimental Range.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 30

051. Ellison, Lincoln; Houston, Walter R. 1958. Production of herbaceous vegetation 

in openings and under canopies of western aspen. Ecology 39 (2): 337-345.

In order to evaluate the potential productivity of aspen openings and the ground 

vegetation under aspen, plots were established in openings and under aspen canopy 

at four sites that were seeded with Bromus carinatus, Elymus glaucus, Rudbeckia 

occidentalis, and Heracleum lanaturn. Yields at the end of the third season furnish 

the basis for this report. In order to evaluate the effect of root competition from 

aspen, paired sets of plots were trenched to cut the aspen roots. Plots in the open 

were much more productive than trenched plots under aspen, indicating that the 

potential for production in openings is greater than under aspen. (A complication 

was introduced by the fact that full stands were less consistently attained on the 

open plots than in aspen shade. This is believed to be a reflection of faulty technique 

rather than of inherently lower productivity in the open.) The most consistently 

successful species was Bromus; the least, Heracleum. The results of this study are 

confirmed by natural areas in which production of herbaceous vegetation in aspen 

openings appears to be greater than within the aspen stand. Trenched plots were 

much more productive than untrenched plots under aspen, which suggests that the 

principal factor in depressing yields under the aspen is root competition. These 

effects were still visible 3 years after trenching was discontinued. A tendency was 

noted for increased production with increasing altitude. This trend may be related to 

an estimated increase of 1 inch in summer (May through September) precipitation 

between the lowest and highest sites, and to warmer exposures at the upper two than 

at the lower two sites. The trend was noted on the trenched and, to a lesser extent, 

on the open plots, but in no case on the untrenched plots. This suggests that the 

environmental benefits associated with altitude (e.g., increased precipitation) are 

more readily taken advantage of by the trees than by their undergrowth. Utilization 

of forage by livestock is heavier in openings than under an aspen canopy. Throughout the aspen type, this difference in use intensity, together with the more adverse 

microclimatic effects associated with heavy grazing in openings, is believed to be 

responsible for the poorer production and species composition commonly noted 

in openings than under the aspen canopy. Relative production under aspen canopy 

and in adjacent openings can be used as an aid in judging range condition. The 

openings are “key” areas for management. Much of this research was performed 

on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

052. Forsling, C. L. 1924. Range studies as an aid to livestock production. The 

Producer 6(7): 3-6; 6(8): 8.

The first work in the development of methods of grazing to improve depleted range 

and handle sheep on the range was conducted on the national forests of eastern 

Oregon. After a few years in that region, the main activities were shifted to the 

Manti National Forest in central Utah, where the Great Basin Range Experiment 

Station was established in 1913. In 1915 the Jornada Range Experiment Station in 

southern New Mexico, and the Santa Rita Station in southern Arizona, were taken 

over by the Forest Service. These are the only three stations devoted entirely to the 

study of range management problems. Some of the more important projects that 
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have been worked on to date include: (1) proper degree of utilization of range forage; (2) proper season of use; (3) improvement of rangelands by artificial reseeding; 

(4) systems of grazing to obtain natural revegetation of the range; (5) methods of 

handling stock on the range; (6) increasing the calf crop; (7) reducing losses from 

various causes; and (8) water development.

053. Forsling, C. L. 1927. Making grazing lands more productive. National Wool 

Grower 17(6): 19-21, 44-46, 48.

The future of the grazing industry and of individual operators of that industry depends upon how well the productivity of grazing lands is maintained and how efficiently the feed produced is utilized. It is obvious that the industry cannot continue 

successfully unless an abundant supply of relatively cheap range feed is available. 

There are two main factors that have tended to make the grazing problems more 

acute: diminished area of range land and overgrazing and the subsequent decline 

in carrying capacity. When the West was first settled practically the entire land area 

was available for grazing. This is no longer the case since farming and other land 

uses have reduced the area available for grazing. More area is now required for the 

same number of stock than was previously required. These conditions tended to 

increase the demand for range that resulted in an increase in the price of land and 

the amount of feeding, and a decrease in the quality of the range. One avenue left 

for maintaining an ample supply of grazing is range management aimed at maintaining or increasing the productivity of the range area, and obtaining maximum 

use of the forage each year. Observations and research results leading to this review 

were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

054. Forsling, C. L. 1928. The soil protection problem. Journal of Forestry 26(8): 

994-997.

Watershed protection may be separated into four main divisions: (1) protection of 

the water supply; (2) checking of floods; (3) checking of erosion to prevent the 

silting up of reservoirs and similar damage; and (4) checking of erosion to prevent 

depletion of the soil itself. Of these the fourth is the most far-reaching. The soil, 

after all, is the basic resource of the nation, since it is essential for the production 

of forage, timber, or farm crops. Observations and research results leading to this 

review were obtained, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range.

055. Forsling, C. L. 1928. The spring range problem. The Producer 10(5): 3-7.

Some of the early range studies imply that the difficulty might lie in too early use. 

Consequently, experiments were started to determine the effect of this early use, 

and to find out when grazing might safely begin in the spring and not cause undue 

injury to the range. These studies have shown that continued early grazing will do 

as much damage, and cause as much of a decline in carrying capacity as continued 

overgrazing. They have also shown that if grazing is delayed until the forage plants 

have made substantial growth in the spring, the range will hold up better and produce more forage than under the early use. For most mountain or foothill ranges, 

where bunchgrasses predominate, the important plants should reach a height of 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 32

approximately 6 inches before grazing begins. This stage of development is 

usually reached about 4 weeks after growth begins in the spring. This period of 

unmolested growth will ordinarily be adequate also for ranges where the shorter 

grasses occur. The mere knowledge of the fact that grazing too early is injurious to 

the range does not in itself solve the spring-range problem. The fact that too early 

use is detrimental should be fully recognized in finding a solution. There appear to 

be three avenues of approach to the solution of the spring-range problem: (1) the 

application of range management to improve the grazing capacity of the available 

spring range now under control; (2) the establishment of improved permanent and 

temporary pastures for spring use; and (3) the administration of the public domain 

to make the suitable range available for exclusive spring and fall use. Observations 

and research results leading to this review were obtained, in part, from the Great 

Basin Experimental Range.

056. Forsling, C. L. 1931. A study of the influence of herbaceous plant cover on surface runoff and soil erosion in relation to grazing on the Wasatch Plateau in Utah. 

Tech. Bull. 220. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 71 p.

This bulletin presents the results of a 15-year measurement of precipitation, surface 

run-off, and erosion from summer rains and a 7-year measurement of melted-snow 

run-off and erosion on two experimental watersheds, 11.244 acres and 8.972 acres, 

respectively, on the Great Basin Experimental Range of the Wasatch Plateau in 

central Utah. Summer run-off and erosion during 6 years on one of the watersheds 

when 16 percent of the surface was occupied by vegetation are compared with runoff and erosion on the same area during a later 6-year period when the vegetation 

occupied 40 percent of the surface, and with conditions on the second area where 

there was a stable 40 percent cover. The average annual precipitation on the areas 

studied was 29.51 inches. The results show the importance of herbaceous vegetation in reducing rainfall run-off and floods and in controlling erosion. They also 

show the need for regulating grazing to prevent depletion of the herbaceous cover 

on sloping lands subject to torrential rainfall.

057. Forsling, C. L. 1932. Erosion on uncultivated lands in the Intermountain 

region. Scientific Monthly 34(4): 311-321.

Since 1912, the research branch of the U.S. Forest Service has maintained a detailed study of the relation of vegetative cover and grazing to surface run-off and 

erosion at the Great Basin Branch Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental 

Range) on the Ephraim Canyon watershed of the Manti National Forest. This is in 

a locality 10,000 feet above sea-level where the annual precipitation, more than 

two thirds of which is winter snow, is about 30 inches. Paired watersheds have been 

manipulated to demonstrate the importance of plant cover and grazing pressure on 

surface run-off and erosion and these variables.

058. Forsling, C. L.; Dayton, W. A. 1931. Artificial reseeding on western mountain 

range lands. Circular 178. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

48 p.
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Investigations and experience, including those on the Great Basin Experimental 

Range, indicate that reseeding will be successful on areas with rainfall, soil, and 

other growing conditions above the average. Such areas include mountain meadows, moist parks, alluvial bottoms along streams, and the more favorable slopes 

where the average annual precipitation is 17 inches or more, and where restoration 

of the native vegetation by range management is unpractical. Artificial reseeding cannot yet be made to take the place, on any considerable scale, of judicious 

grazing that will result in natural revegetation of depleted rangelands. In addition 

to the selection of the more favorable areas, the plants adapted to them, and the 

probability of restoring the native vegetation, other important considerations include the possibility of restricting grazing of the seeded species until they are well 

established; grazing the reseeded range where the forage crop will be maintained 

and the expense involved in reseeding will be offset within a reasonable period 

by increased income. Whenever artificial reseeding is undertaken with a species 

hitherto untried in any given locality, the operator, because of the many factors that 

enter in, should begin the work on a small scale or trial basis. Certain cultivated 

species such as common bromegrass, Kentucky and Canada bluegrass, timothy, 

orchard grass, and redtop have given very satisfactory results in reseeding. Some 

of the native western grasses, including the big mountain bromegrasses and several of the wheatgrasses, have given equally good results. Their use, however, is 

limited by the fact that the seed of all except slender wheatgrass may be procured 

only by collecting it on the range from naturally grown plants. Methods of treating 

the land for planting include trampling in the seed with sheep or cattle, harrowing 

the ground with a farm harrow or a wooden-peg harrow or brush drag constructed 

from materials available on the ground, plowing furrows at 3- to 4-foot intervals 

parallel to the contour of the land, and in some cases complete tillage by plowing 

and harrowing. Ordinarily, however, conditions will not justify an expenditure of 

more than $3.50 an acre for the complete operation, including cost of the seed; 

only under exceptionally favorable conditions is an outlay of as much as $6 per 

acre justified. This, on land of average productivity, excludes plowing and usually 

more than one harrowing. The best time to seed varies with climatic conditions. 

The most important consideration is that there should be an ample supply of soil 

moisture from the time of germination of the seed until seedlings have become 

well established and deeply enough rooted to withstand drought periods that may 

occur during the months of favorable growing temperatures. Where erosion of the 

soil is occurring as the result of depletion of the plant cover by overgrazing, fire, 

or other causes, artificial reseeding or planting to restore a plant cover will control 

the erosion. The methods to employ are much the same as in artificial reseeding to 

increase forage production, although a higher expense and a greater use of seed per 

acre are usually justified because of the greater values involved. Artificial reseeding, as a supplemental measure, sometimes lends itself to temporary conversion of 

cut-over timberlands to grazing purposes, pending restocking with tree reproduction 

as on Douglas fir lands in the Pacific Northwest, provided the seeding and grazing 

do not interfere with the establishment of tree reproduction. Seeding areas where 

poisonous plants have been eradicated by grubbing is often justified. Thus far, 

work in artificial reseeding on rangelands has been confined largely to cultivated 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 34

species and a few native western range plants. There are still many undeveloped 

possibilities such as further trials with native range plants, the search in foreign 

countries for plants suited to western range conditions, and the development of 

more suitable forms by plant breeding and selection. The success with the few 

native western species tried, the successful introduction into the United States of 

many foreign species for other purposes, and breeding of cereals and other crop 

plants suggest that promising results will be attained as more attention is devoted 

to range forage plants.

059. Frischkneckt, Neil C. 1949. Seedling emergence and survival of sixteen 

grasses in central Utah. Logan, UT: Utah State University. 54 p. Thesis.

Because survival during the seedling stage is of vital importance to the establishment of grasses, a study of seedling emergence and survival was made of 16 grass 

species or strains planted in early-fall, late-fall, and spring at two sites in Central 

Utah: one in the sagebrush zone, and the other in the oakbrush zone. Seedling 

emergence from early-fall plantings, which began in the fall of 1947 and continued through the winter, was higher at both sites than emergence from late-fall and 

spring plantings in which seeds did not germinate until spring. There was great 

variability in seedling survival up to the second growing season between sites, 

and also between and within species, seasons of planting, and dates of seedling 

counts. The great differences in survival between the two sites is attributed principally to the drought, which took a heavy toll on seedlings in the sagebrush zone in 

the summer and fall of 1948. Differences as a result of winter mortality were less 

striking between the two sites. Mortality as a result of wintering was from three 

main courses at both sites: (1) heaving of seedlings due to the alternate freezing 

and thawing of the very wet soil surfaces; (2) breaking of the primary leaf near the 

ground level; and (3) unseen internal injury as a result of cold temperatures. Intermediate wheatgrass, mountain wildrye, and mountain bromegrass produced seed 

the first growing season from both fall plantings in the oakbrush zone, but showed 

stunted growth and showed no tendency toward culm elongation and production 

of seed heads from spring planting. Russian wildrye and orchard grass produced 

no seed culms for any season of planting. All other species and strains produced 

seed heads from all seasons of planting in the oakbrush zone. Mountain wildrye 

and intermediate wheatgrass were the only species to produce seed heads in the 

sagebrush zone, and these only from the two fall plantings. The research reported 

here was performed, in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

060. Frischknecht, Neil C. 1951. Seedling emergence and survival of range grasses 

in central Utah. Agronomy Journal 43(4): 177-182.

A study of seedling emergence and survival was made of 16 grasses planted in 

early fall, late fall, and spring in the sagebrush and mountain brush zones in central Utah. Fall planting stimulated faster growth and development in intermediate 

wheatgrass, mountain brome, and mountain rye, causing them to flower and produce 

seed the first year in the mountain brush zone, whereas they did not flower from 

spring planting. The effects of fall planting were similar whether seeds germinated 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 35

in the fall or whether they lay in the ground over winter and germinated the following spring. The stimulation of faster early growth may be a factor contributing 

to higher summer survival of fall plantings in the sagebrush zone, but its extent 

or importance are not fully known. The research reported here was performed, in 

part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

061. Frischknecht, Neil C. 1959. Effects of presowing vernalization on survival 

and development of several grasses. Journal of Range Management 12(6): 

280-286.

Fall planting or storage of soaked seed in a snowbank or refrigerator prior to spring 

planting accomplishes vernalization of some perennial grasses, notably intermediate 

wheatgrass and mountain rye. Other grasses used in this study, with the possible exception of Russian wildrye, are capable of first-year flowering from spring plantings 

without cold treatment, but it appeared that a higher percentage of plants flowered 

when seeds had been treated prior to spring planting; to what extent a few days’ 

earlier emergence from treated seeds was a contributing factor is not known. The 

other species investigated were pubescent, tall, crested, and fairway wheatgrasses, 

Indian ricegrass and Great Basin wildrye. Whereas both snowbank and refrigerator 

storage effectively vernalized seeds, snowbank storage was advantageous in that 

it required no special equipment and seeds did not dry during the process. Use of 

plastic bags instead of cloth bags in the refrigerator lessened the problem of seeds’ 

drying. These cold treatments hastened emergence from spring planting and aided 

survival on dry sites. With such treatment, spring plantings compared favorably 

with fall plantings. This study suggests that use of vernalized seed in spring planting of some range grasses may help obtain successful stands when fall planting 

has not been feasible. The research reported here was performed, in part, on the 

Great Basin Experimental Range.

062. Frischknecht, Neil C.; Plummer, A. Perry. 1949. A simplified technique for 

determining herbage production on range and pasture land. Agronomy Journal 

41(2): 63-65.

The use of a 9.6 square foot plot is suggested primarily as a procedure for training to 

estimate herbage production directly in pounds per acre in the field. It has important 

added value in experimental work when it is desirable to make annual or seasonal 

checks on production. The use of this procedure in making forage inventories will 

fulfill a need for a method that is rapid, easy to use, and mechanically sound. The 

technique is recommended to range and pasture technicians who are concerned with 

measurement, maintenance, and improvement or forage resources. The research 

reported here was performed, in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

063. Frischknecht, Neil C.; Plummer, A. Perry. 1955. A comparison of seeded 

grasses under grazing and protection on a mountain brush burn. Journal of 

Range Management 8(4): 170-175.

Twenty-two grass species were seeded on contour strips already established with 

smooth brome on a mountain brush site on the Great Basin Experimental Range in 
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the fall of 1944. Two transects were established across all strips in 1946; one was 

fenced to exclude livestock grazing whereas the other has been grazed heavily by 

livestock each year since establishment until 1952. Only intermediate wheatgrass, 

pubescent wheatgrass, quackgrass and meadow brome maintained dominance to 

smooth brome under both heavy gazing and protection through the study. The 

increased yields of big sagebrush and snowberry on the grazed transect are associated with reduced grass vigor, and in the case of snowberry, perhaps with an added 

stimulative effect of grazing. In addition, many sagebrush seedlings appeared on 

the gazed transect beginning in 1951. In a burned area, six browse species (snowberry, Gambel oak, chokecherry, serviceberry, bigtooth maple, and horsebrush) 

sprouted readily from the crowns. Except for horsebrush, all provide good browse. 

Big sagebrush was killed by the fire.

064. Geary, Edward A. 1992. The proper edge of the sky, the high plateau country 

of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press. 282 p.

Attempts to restore the vegetation of the Wasatch Plateau has been a slow and difficult process, still not completed after more than a century. Even after livestock 

numbers were reduced, the denuded lands continued to spill mud and boulders into 

the valley with each summer storm. The most devastating floods in Sanpete history 

occurred in 1909, and the flood basins at the mouths of the canyons even yet have 

their uses. A significant chapter in the restoration process was the establishment 

of the Utah Experiment Station (later renamed the Great Basin Experiment Station 

and still later the Great Basin Experimental Range) in Ephraim Canyon in 1912, 

which brought the first true range scientists into the region. These scientists, such 

as Arthur W. Sampson, A. Perry Plummer, and Lincoln Ellison, deserve the title 

of pioneer as much as the first Sanpete settlers in 1849.

065. Gill, Richard A. 2007. Influence of 90 years of protection from grazing on 

plant and soil. Rangeland Ecology and Management 60(1): 88-98.

Human communities in the Intermountain West depend heavily on subalpine 

rangelands because of their importance in providing water for irrigation and forage for wildlife and livestock. In addition, many constituencies are looking to 

managed ecosystems to sequester carbon in plant biomass and soil C to reduce 

the impact of anthropogenic CO2 on climate. This work builds on a 90-year-old 

grazing experiment in mountain meadows on the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. 

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of 90 years of protection 

from grazing on processes controlling the input, output, and storage of C in subalpine rangelands. Long-term grazing significantly reduced maximum biomass in 

all years compared with plots within grazing exclosures. For grazed plots, interannual variability in aboveground biomass was correlated with July precipitation 

and temperature (R2 = 0.51), while there was a weak correlation between July 

precipitation and biomass in ungrazed plots (R2 = 0.24). Livestock grazing had no 

statistically significant impacts on total soil C or particulate organic matter (POM), 

although grazing did increase active soil C and decrease soil moisture. Grazing 

significantly increased the proportion of total soil C pools that were potentially 

mineralizable in the laboratory, with soils from grazed plots evolving 4.6 percent of 
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total soil C in 1 year while ungrazed plots lost 3.3 percent of total soil C. Volumetric soil moisture was consistently higher in ungrazed plots than grazed plots. The 

changes in soil C chemistry may have implications for how these ecosystems will 

respond to forecast climate change. Because grazing has resulted in an accumulation of easily decomposable organic material, if temperatures warm and summer 

precipitation increases as is anticipated, these soils may become net sources of 

CO2 to the atmosphere creating a positive feedback between climate change and 

atmospheric CO2. The research reported here was performed, in part, on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range.

066. Godfrey, Andrew E. 1985. Prediction and protection for slope hazards, Utah’s 

landslides of 1983 as a magnitude-frequency event with a finite return probability. In: Bowles, David S., editor. Delineation of landslide, flash flood, and 

debris flow hazards in Utah. Proceedings of a Specialty Conference: 1984 

June 14-15; Logan, UT. General Series UWRL/G-85/03. Logan, UT: Utah 

State University, Utah Water Research Laboratory: 67-85.

Preliminary results from this study indicate that mass movements in the most unstable 

areas of the Wasatch Plateau, such as those underlain by the North Horn Formation, can occur with equal probability in any given year. However, the total land 

area involved is only a small percentage of the entire Wasatch Plateau. Examples 

of these landslides are the one in Bulger Canyon (1971), which involved 10 acres, 

and the one above Manti (1974) involving about 300 acres. In contrast, the wet 

year of 1983 produced a higher percentage of area involved in mass movement on 

the Wasatch Plateau, about 6,500 acres. In addition, the 1983 slides occurred in 

areas of lower landslide susceptibility than the areas involved in drier years. When 

viewed as magnitude-frequency events, the effects of mass movements in shaping 

landforms can be placed in proper perspective. Although the locations of specific 

slides cannot be predicted, since statistical analysis results in the loss of a degree 

of spatial resolution, these magnitude-frequency data, combined with gradational 

landslide hazard studies, enhance predictions of hazards to man-made structures. 

This research draws on experiences in the Great Basin Experimental Range 

(GBER); the GBER was affected by the 1983 landslides.

067. Grah, Oliver John. 1983. Spatial and temporal distribution of infiltration rates 

on a small subalpine watershed. Logan, UT: Utah State University. 186 p. 

Thesis.

Field studies were conducted to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of 

infiltration rates on a small subalpine watershed on the Great Basin Experimental 

Range in central Utah. Of particular interest was the distribution of infiltration 

rates relative to overland flow distance, elevation, total vegetal cover and soil bulk 

density. Infiltration readings were taken twelve times during the infiltration process 

at 120 sample points on a 0.45-hectare area. The Horton, modified Kostiakov and 

Philip infiltration models were statistically fitted to the observed infiltration rates. 

Infiltration variability was described by assigning the frequency distributions of 

each of the twelve infiltration rate data sets and by constructing semivariograms. 

Infiltration variability decreased from a high of 1 minute to a low at 55 minutes. One 
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minute infiltration rates were found to be two parameters lognormally distributed; 

the other eleven infiltration data sets were found to be three parameter lognormally 

distributed as were long-time gravity terms of the three infiltration models. The 

infiltration models were fit to the observed infiltration with high significance and 

thus were found to adequately model the point infiltration process. The long time 

gravity terms of the infiltration models were found to be highly correlated with 

the observed 55 minute infiltration rates. The significance level of correlation between observed infiltration rates and overland flow distance was found to increase 

from early time infiltration to later time infiltration as did the correlations between 

observed infiltration rates and elevation. Correlations between the twelve times of 

infiltration and total vegetal cover remained at a constant high value of significance 

as did the correlations between observed infiltration rates and surface soil bulk density. Semivariance analysis and the use of semivariograms revealed that the range, 

or zone of influence, increased from a low of 2.38 for one-minute infiltration to a 

high of 17.37 meters for 55-minute infiltration. A highly significant exponential 

relationship between range and time of infiltration was found. This indicates that 

infiltration is spatially heterogeneous at early times and more homogeneous at later 

times during the infiltration process across the study watershed.

068. Griswold, Sylvia M. 1936. Effect of alternate moistening and drying on germination of seeds. Botanical Gazette 98(10): 242-269.

The seeds used in this study include 9 grass, 26 herb, and 7 woody species of Utah 

range plants. Twenty-three of the 42 species studied gave little or no germination 

at temperatures of 22 to 29 °C. Other conditions must be used for them before the 

effect of alternate moistening and drying can satisfactorily be determined. The 

effect of alternate moistening and drying on the germination of seeds varies with 

the individual species. Of the 19 species that germinated at 22 to 29 °C, alternate 

moistening and drying had little effect on the germination of Bromus polyanthus 

but did increase the germination of Stipa lettermani, Artemisia incompta, Lepidium densiflorum, and Plantago tweedyi. This treatment slightly decreased the 

germination of Geranium viscosissimum, Pseudocymopterus montanus, Chrysothamnus lanceolatus, and Stipa columbiana. Rapid drying had little effect on the 

germination of Poa interior, P. secunda, and Chenopodium album, but increased 

the germination of Achillea lanulosa, Androsace diffusa, Pentstemon rydbergi, 

and Rumex mexicanus; in all of these species slow drying decreased the percentage of germination. Rapid drying decreased the germination of Bromus anomalus, 

Lupinus parviflorus,and Rudbeckia occidentalis, while slow drying increased the 

germination of Rudbeckia occidentalis but had little effect on Bromus anomalus

and Lupinus parviflorus. Increased germination was usually accompanied by a 

hastening of the germinative process and decreased germination was accompanied 

by retardation. In five species, however, Poa secunda, Androsace duffusa, Plantago 

tweedy, Rudbeckia occidentalis, and Rumex mexicanus, retardation was followed 

by increased germination. Most of the seed lots used in this study were obtained 

from the Great Basin Experimental Range.
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069. Hall, Marcus. 2001. Repairing mountains: restoration ecology, and wilderness 

in twentieth-century Utah. Environmental History 6(4): 584-610.

Most Utah residents at first assumed that spontaneous natural processes would 

restore the land. But they soon realized that their degraded mountainsides did not 

recuperate very much or very fast. On the Wasatch Plateau where the Great Basin 

Experimental Range was established, large areas of pine, spruce, and fir that were 

logged or burned out never did grow back but remained as sagebrush or alder 

fading into aspen. Herbaceous areas were grazed out and never recovered. Even 

after the Manti Forest Reserve was established over most of the Wasatch Plateau 

in 1903, when the Federal government first limited livestock grazing and timber 

cutting, subalpine vegetation did not recover as expected. When destructive flash 

floods continued to rush down from these mountains, sometimes more frequently 

than before, the Forest Service established a research station in one of the plateau’s 

most flood-prone canyons. Opened in 1912, the Great Basin Experiment Station’s 

central mission was to find effective ways to restore stability and productivity to 

the West’s denuded mountain watersheds. Extending south from the southern peaks 

of the Wasatch Mountains, the Wasatch Plateau is slightly taller and broader than 

most other mountain ranges that cross Utah’s deserts. From the occasional promontory on this rolling, 80-mile plateau, side-canyons wind down to the valley floors 

on either side, with the eastern drainages eventually joining the Colorado River, 

and the western drainages flowing towards evaporation in the Great Basin’s great 

expanse. Because the Wasatch Plateau’s western escarpment drops faster than the 

eastern side, so does each of its western canyons and so does the water that drains 

them. Where each of the dozen western canyons opens onto the broad Sanpete 

Valley, Mormon immigrants constructed villages; the larger settlements of Manti, 

Ephraim, and Mount Pleasant mark the larger creeks that have provided life, but 

after thunderstorms have sometimes unleashed death. The most dangerous floods 

in the American West resulted not from melting snow but from brief, summer 

downpours. Sheep and cattle ranchers in the West had long spoken of the range’s 

historic abundance and the need to restore previous conditions. By the late nineteenth 

century, ranchers almost always compared a better past with a worse present. Even 

with better knowledge about the flora that had once grown on the Wasatch Plateau, 

GBER Director Lincoln Ellison revegetated with almost as many failures as had 

the first director Arthur Sampson. Ellison set out in 1938 to establish what used to 

grow on the mountain, but in 1954 he concluded that even if he could determine 

what once grew there, such plants would probably no longer survive and reproduce 

anyway. Ellison had come to think that the real problem lay in soil loss, not in species choice. Even if he could travel back a century in time to survey pre-grazing 

vegetation with transects and quadrats he doubted that this previous vegetation 

could be grown on transformed soils. For Ellison, successful revegetation required 

soil replacement. After Sampson determined that the Wasatch Plateau’s soils could 

not be replaced, Ellison decided that even soil loss might not be prevented. After 

Sampson concluded that the best approach was to preserve the range through better grazing management, Ellison warned that even preservation of degraded land 

might be inadequate. Instead of full restoration, his realistic management strategy 

for many of Utah’s mountains had become partial repair or rehabilitation. When 
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managers spoke of “rehabilitating rather than” restoring the land, they had lowered 

their goals, no longer expecting to reproduce an undamaged range. After 10 years 

at the station, Sampson was already counseling that the best strategy in Ephraim 

Canyon was to save what was left, since much damage was irreparable. Although 

stockmen expect great things from artificial reseeding, he wrote, “the Forest Service 

should impress upon them the futility of such work and the need for conserving the 

natural vegetation.” Permanent damage meant that even the introduction of hardy 

species, whether native or exotic, could never completely repair the land. At the 

station’s 1939 management seminar, participants were informed dryly that” there 

seems to be no possibility of finding the ‘wonder plant’ which will grow without 

moisture and withstand extremely heavy utilization.” By mid-century, Utah’s deteriorating mountain lands required land doctors. Subalpine pastures such as those of 

the Wasatch Plateau were not just eroded and unproductive, they were unhealthy. A 

decade later, Station Director Perry Plummer explained that by helping to stabilize 

eroding soil, sagebrush acted as “white corpuscles” of the range by holding land 

in place despite absence of species that had been there previously. Even though 

Ellison suggested that there might be no cure for the land’s failing health, he and 

his colleagues still searched for strong medicine. Having worked to heal the land 

as nature would heal it—by revegetating with historically accurate native plants or 

by constructing trenches that might catch moisture to grow plants and assist natural 

soil-building processes—Forest Service personnel occasionally resorted to more 

invasive treatments. In fact, while constructing a series of deep, precisely leveled 

contour trenches in the Wasatch Plateau during the early1940s, the Forest Service 

saw themselves administering intensive care. University ecologist Walter Cottam 

believed that if one could restore wildness to grazing lands, one would grow more 

forage, prevent more floods, and display more beauty. Cottam spent much of his 

life wondering about the pre-grazing condition of Utah’s land. Like Ellison, he 

believed that a stable climax vegetation existed before the arrival of Europeans and 

he searched the archives and the land itself for clues about how this past vegetation had been altered. Like Ellison he concluded that soil loss represented worse 

degradation than vegetation loss. When calling for the “rehabilitation of the land 

resources still left to us,” Cottam hoped to bring back wildness rather than Wilderness. As an advocate of rehabilitation, Cottam sought to restore through wildness 

to recreate wildland. Yet for all their failures, restorationists in central Utah made 

real progress in finding better ways to live on the land. They showed biological 

successes, by identifying handsful of native and exotic species that could survive 

in denuded slopes to begin accumulating soil. They revealed technical successes by 

refining horticultural methods that could produce sizeable quantities of local seed 

for revegetation projects. Restorationists demonstrated the difficulty of rehabilitation 

of subalpine lands but provided evidence that improvement and management of 

less environmentally stressful areas might be more practical to undertake. Finally 

they revealed by their struggles that there were others before them who recognized 

degradation and sought out means to repair it; in fact, it may be more gratifying 

to realize that the Forest Service acknowledged damage in the land and sought to 

restore it, instead of merely preserving the damaged status quo.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 41

070. Hall, Marcus. 2005. Earth repair: a transatlantic history of environmental 

restoration. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. 310 p.

This book explores the answer to the question of environmental restoration: Which 

systems need restoring and to what states should they be restored? It offers the 

alternative to the usual narrative of humans disrupting and spoiling the earth by 

showing that those who believed in restoration did not always agree on what they 

wanted to restore, or how, or to what form. This is done by discussing the forms 

that restoration has taken over the past two hundred years in the Italian Alps and 

Utah’s Wasatch Plateau including the Great Basin Experimental Range.

071. Hall, Marcus. 2005. Restoring Utah’s Rockies. In: Hall, Marcus. Earth repair: transatlantic history of environmental restoration. Charlottesville, VA: 

University of Virginia Press: chapter 3: 92-130.

This chapter documents the degradation of the Wasatch Plateau, including 

the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER), by livestock grazing that lead to 

catastrophic floods in the Sanpete Valley beginning in 1889. That led to establishment of the Manti National Forest and later what is now known as the Great Basin 

Experimental Range where causes of the floods were documented and revegetation 

techniques were developed and plant materials for use in revegetation were tested 

and monitored. The chapter reviews the successes and failures and the philosophical 

bases for the actions that researchers and land managers have taken on the GBER 

over the course of the 20th century.

072. Heyerdahl, Emily K.; Brown, Peter M.; Kitchen, Stanley, G.; Weber, Marc 

H. 2011. Multicentury fire and forest histories at nineteen sites in Utah and 

eastern Nevada. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-261. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 196 p.

This study provides site-specific fire and forest histories from Utah and eastern 

Nevada that can be used for land management or additional research. Fire scars 

and tree-recruitment dates across broad gradients in elevation and forest type at 

13 sites in Utah, including the Great Basin Experimental Range, and one in eastern 

Nevada were systematically sampled to characterize spatial and temporal variation 

in historical fire regimes as well as forest structure and composition. Similar data 

was non-systematically collected at five additional sites in Utah. These 19 sites 

include a broad range of forest types (from pinyon-juniper woodlands to sprucefir forests) and fire regime types. In this report, local-scale spatial and temporal 

variation with site-specific details of historical fire regimes and forests that will 

be useful for local natural resource and fire management of individual sites are 

considered. For each site, topography, chronologies of fire and tree recruitment, 

and properties derived from those chronologies such as time-averaged fire regime 

parameters (mean fire interval and fire severity) and changes in forest composition 

and structure that have occurred since the late 1800s are reported.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 42

073. Houston, Walter R. 1952. A preliminary study of some factors affecting herbage 

production in the aspen type of central Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: University 

of Utah. 27 p. Thesis.

In central Utah on the Great Basin Experimental Range, plants growing in openings between the islands of aspen trees produced four times as much herbage with 

an average of two to three times as many leaves per plant as did plants grown on 

areas under the aspen canopy. Removing the effect of aspen root competition under 

the aspen canopy increased herbage production 3 times, average length of leaves 

33 percent, and doubled the average number of leaves per plant; it also increased 

the differences in herbage production and number of leaves per plant between these 

areas under the canopy and the openings.

074. Houston, Walter R. 1954. A condition guide for aspen ranges of Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, and western Wyoming. Res. Pap. 32. Ogden, UT: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range 

Experiment Station. 20 p.

Aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx., the most widespread deciduous tree of the 

western United States, is one of the most prominent features of its native, high 

mountain habitat. Its conspicuous, relatively pure and single-aged stands, vivid 

green foliage in summer, bright yellow leaves in autumn, and distinctive white 

trunks at any season—all set it apart from the conifers and shrub communities 

that may surround it. In Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, and Idaho south of the 

Salmon River, the area of range dominated by aspen approximates 2,000,000 acres. 

The lower and upper elevational limits of the type rise from north to south, from 

approximately 5,500 and 8,000 feet in southern Idaho to 8,000 and 10,000 feet in 

southern Utah. The type usually occurs between the mountain brush or sagebrush 

on the lower side and the subalpine conifer on the upper. The type is important to 

the economy of the region. Since it is one of the largest and most productive of 

the montane types, it is extensively used as a summer range, both for livestock 

and big game. It makes a considerable contribution to the regulation of streamflow, is also used for recreation, and furnishes some timber products, principally 

excelsior. Although forage production on the aspen ranges throughout the region 

has been reduced far below its normally high potential, little soil erosion is apparent; and from many observations the indications are that these ranges probably 

could be more easily restored to their former condition than many of the adjacent 

ones. Because of the importance of aspen ranges for grazing, range managers are 

particularly interested in recognizing condition and trend on them. As a basis for 

grazing management plans, the range manager must know the productive potential 

of the type, how near a particular range is to this potential, and whether the range 

is changing toward or away from it. The purpose of this publication is to furnish a 

guide that will enable the range manager to determine the condition of most aspentype ranges in the Intermountain region. Data and experiences obtained from the 

Great Basin Experimental Range were used in preparing this guide.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 43

075. Jardine, James T. 1916. Improvement and management of native pastures in 

the West. In: USDA Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington, DC: Government 

Printing Office: 299-310.

This report draws on the authors experience and observations including that at the 

Great Basin Experimental Range. For many years in the West there was room for 

expansion of the range stock industry. Large areas of unused grazing lands awaited 

the coming of the stockman. Only part of the pasturage that nature had provided 

in such seeming abundance was utilized by the herds that grazed in the western 

country. But this is no longer the case. From the desert to the line of perpetual 

snow there is now little unused range. Grazing, too, has in most cases been unrestricted, with consequent injury to the forage growth. This has gone on until it is 

evident that, to maintain the production of even the present number of livestock 

under range industry, run-down ranges must be improved and an efficient system 

of native pasture management worked out. The following points will help improve 

the management of native pastures: (1) Avoid grazing any of the pasture while the 

ground is wet in spring and the principal forage plants are just beginning growth. 

(2) Limit the number of stock to what is believed the whole area will support, at 

least in good condition for feeders. (3) Apply the principles of deferred grazing as 

nearly as possible. (4) Control and distribute the stock by fences, well-distributed 

watering places, and salt troughs, to minimize handling, natural travel, or congregating in large herds. (5) Watch the vegetation on the area as a whole to find out 

whether the best forage plants are increasing or decreasing, and increase or decrease 

the number of stock as may be necessary to bring the pasture, or each compartment 

of it, to its maximum forage production

076. Johnson, Hyrum B. 1964. Changes in the vegetation of two restricted areas of 

the Wasatch Plateau as related to reduced grazing and complete protection. 

Provo, UT: Brigham Young University. 123 p. Thesis.

Early in the twentieth century vegetation studies were started on the Wasatch 

Plateau in central Utah. This study is a continuation of a portion of those studies 

and is concerned with the vegetation and soils inside and outside two livestock 

exclosures on Horseshoe Flat—one located in a Penstemon-Achillea-ArtemisiaStipa community and the other in a Stipa-Chrysothamnus community. Soils inside 

and outside the exclosures at each site are similar in depth, texture, hydrogen ion 

concentration, and organic matter content. The volume of soil macropores and the 

infiltration rate of water into the soil were found to be significantly reduced under 

grazing conditions at both study sites. The vegetation cover at the beginning of the 

study in 1915 was severely depleted due to abusive, uncontrolled livestock grazing 

that had occurred previous to that time. Since the study began, grazing has been 

under the direction of the U.S. Forest Service. Throughout the study period grazing pressure has steadily decreased due to reduction in livestock numbers and the 

number of days making up the summer grazing season. Changes in the vegetation 

have been determined by evaluating records that have been kept of the vegetation 

on permanent plots located inside and outside the exclosures at each site. The 

major species occurring on the sites have been present both inside and outside 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 44

the exclosures through the study period. The vegetation cover in the rhizomatous 

forb-grass community became more dense both inside and outside the exclosures 

as the study period progressed. The greatest increase occurred during the first 

few years after grazing was restricted. In general, those species, that showed the 

greatest increases inside the exclosures, are more palatable to sheep than those that 

showed the greatest increases outside the exclosures. Trends for species at the site 

are reported. These exclosures are part of an extended set located, in part, on the 

Great Basin Experimental Range.

077. Johnston, Robert S.; Tew, Ronald K.; Doty, Robert D. 1969. Soil moisture 

depletion and estimated evapotranspiration on Utah mountain watersheds. 

Res. Pap. INT-67. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 13 p.

Soil moisture depletion was measured with a neutron moisture probe on 14 sites 

representing 10 vegetation types on mountain watersheds on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range in Utah. A water balance equation was used to estimate 

evapotranspiration (ET). Both soil moisture depletion and ET varied considerably 

between sites and from year to year. Aspen (Populus tremuloides) sprouts utilized 

from 0.48 to 4.50 inches less water from 6 feet of soil than mature aspen; Gambel 

oak (Quercus gambelii) sprouts utilized from 0.25 to 1.15 inches less water than 

mature oak. By converting aspen to grass, ET losses were reduced from 1.08 to 5.18 

inches from the surface 6 feet of soil and up to 7.59 inches from a 9-foot soil depth.

078. Julander, Odell. 1968. Effect of clipping on herbage and flower stalk production of three summer range forbs. Journal of Range Management 21(2): 

74-79.

This study performed on the Great Basin Experimental Range showed that unclipped forbs produced more herbage and flower stalks over a 10-year period 

than plants clipped 50, 75, and 90 percent. Herbage production by the plants 

clipped 75 and 90 percent decreased rapidly over the years and few mature 

seeds were produced after 3 or 4 years of treatment. Ligusticum and Valerian 

can apparently stand about 50 percent use each year, but Geranium should be 

grazed somewhat less.

079. Keck, Wendell M. 1972. Great Basin Station—Sixty years of progress in range 

and watershed research. Res. Pap. INT-118. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment 

Station. 48 p.

This review narrates briefly the history of the Great Basin Experimental Range from 

its establishment in 1912 as the Utah Experiment Station. It describes key problems 

in management of watershed and rangelands and the experiments devised to solve 

them, and indicates how results of this research have been applied in practice.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 45

080. Keck, Wendell M. 1972. Great Basin Experiment Station completes 60 years. 

Journal of Range Management 25(3): 163-166.

The Great Basin Experimental Range in central Utah completed 60 years of 

continuous ecological research in 1972. Scientists at the experiment station have 

pioneered research in watershed management, range management, climatology, 

and plant ecology. The Great Basin Experimental Range will be the locale for the 

Society’s summer tour for 1972.

081. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain Station, 1911-1997. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 

259 p.

This treatise includes highlights of the history of organizations that preceded formation of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in 1954. It provides 

detailed accounts of Intermountain Station research and administrative accomplishments, some of the people who led activities, and changes in the organization 

from 1954 through 1997 when the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain Stations 

merged to become the Rocky Mountain Research Station. Many significant Station 

publications are indicated by title in the text, and the references list includes other 

publications that provide additional historic background on research programs and 

results including work at the Great Basin Experimental Range.

082. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Chapter 1, The trail we will follow. In: Klade, Richard 

J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain Station, 1911-1997. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 1-6.

This chapter reviews the importance of the Great Basin Experimental Range 

(GBER) founded as the Utah Experiment Station and later known as the Great 

Basin Experiment Station in the subsequent establishment of the Intermountain 

Forest and Range Experiment Station in 1928. The GBER was established in 

1912; it was the second of several coalescing units that were eventually organized in 

the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, which itself was later 

renamed the Intermountain Research Station and then merged with the Rocky 

Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station to become the current Rocky 

Mountain Research Station.

083. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Chapter 4, Great Basin—early days. In: Klade, Richard 

J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain Station, 1911-1997. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 21-29.

This chapter documents the establishment of what we now know as the Great 

Basin Experimental Range (GBER) though its iterations of the Utah Experiment 

Station and the Great Basin Experiment Station. It details how the site was chosen 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 46

and staffed and how research priorities were established. The first Director, Arthur 

Sampson, became an eminent researcher and later a professor at the University of 

California, Berkeley. The first studies included effect of grazing on aspen reproduction, natural revegetation of seriously overgrazed lands, soil acidity related to 

artificial range reseeding, growth and yield of aspen, erosion and stream flow, and 

effect of grazing on water quality. Permanent exclosures to compare grazed and 

ungrazed areas were established. Other early researchers at the GBER included 

C. L. Forsling, Clarence Korstian, Fred Baker, and W. R. Chapline.

084. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Chapter 7, The Intermountain Station, 1928-1953. 

In: Klade, Richard J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain 

Station, 1911-1997. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research 

Station: 55-74.

This chapter documents the establishment and results of paired Experimental 

Watersheds A and B in the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER) where treatments, seeding, and grazing were manipulated and reversed over time so that 

conclusions about land protection from erosion could be clearly drawn.

085. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Chapter 10, Station growth, 1955-1971. In: Klade, 

Richard J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain Station, 1911-

1997. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 87-124.

This chapter documents the growth and culmination of plant materials testing, 

selection, and use for rehabilitation of disturbed landscapes at the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER) at the time of the first Director, Arthur Sampson. The 

experiments were broadly expanded and extensively tested by A. Perry Plummer 

not only in the GBER but in many other sites. The bulletin Restoring Big Game 

Range in Utah was published in 1968 (see Plummer, Christensen, and Monsen 

1967, 1968).

086. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Chapter 11, New approaches, 1971-1990. In: Klade, 

Richard J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The Intermountain Station, 1911-

1997. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 129-206.

This chapter documents the physical toughness and athletic prowess of two early 

Great Basin Experimental Range researchers, Arthur Sampson and Ray Price. 

Sampson was a boxer, wrestler, and runner and Price was a football, track, 

baseball, and basketball star. They used their physical skills to perform difficult 

physical labor at the GBER. Other GBER activities documented in the chapter 

include the review of plant selection for disturbed land reclamation that had 

it’s roots in early GBER activities, and the new role of the GBER as the Great 

Basin Environmental Center managed by Snow College but partnered by the 

Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Manti-La Sal National Forest. It 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 47

also includes vignettes on restoration of the Sampson exclosures in 1990 by 

volunteers and contributions of Paul Hansen, a biological technician who did 

research and maintenance work at the GBER for nearly 50 years as an employee 

and a volunteer in retirement.

087. Klade, Richard J. 2006. Appendix A, Pechanec remembers his early days 

in research. In: Klade, Richard J. 2006. Building a research legacy, The 

Intermountain Station, 1911-1997. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-184. Fort 

Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain 

Research Station: 248-249.

This appendix is a contribution by former Intermountain Station Director Joseph 

Pechanec. He recalls spending the summer of 1932 at the Great Basin Experimental 

Range mapping quadrats and browse plots and estimating plant density on major 

plots.

088. Klemmedson, James O.; Tiedemann, Arthur R. 1994. Soil and vegetation 

development in an abandoned sheep corral on degraded subalpine rangeland. 

Great Basin Naturalist 54(4): 301-312.

Vegetation and soils inside and outside an abandoned sheep corral on degraded 

subalpine range of the Wasatch Plateau were studied to determine the influence of 

approximately 37 years’ use of the corral on soil and plant development. Vegetal 

and surface covers were estimated. Herbage, litter, and soils were sampled inside 

and outside the corral and analyzed for Corg,N, P, and S. Soil pH, bulk density, 

and C03-C also were measured. Storage (mass/unit area) of Corg, N, P, and S was 

determined for each component. Yield and vegetal composition were significantly 

affected inside the corral boundary. Herbage yield was 2.2 times greater, litter mass 

16 times greater, foliar cover of grasses 2 times greater, and forb cover 70 percent 

lower inside than outside the corral. Cover of meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum), a component of the pre-disturbance vegetation of the Wasatch Plateau, was 

nearly 12 times greater inside than outside the corral. These and other vegetal and 

cover differences reflect inside-outside differences in concentration, storage, and 

availability of soil Corg, N, P, and S. Concentrations of Corg and total and available 

N, P, and S were greater in the surface 5 cm of soil inside the corral. Available P 

inside the corral was much higher in all soil layers. Because of bulk density differences, storage was greater inside the corral only for Corg and N at 0-5 cm and for 

P at 5-15 cm. Lower soil pH inside the corral appears related to soil P distribution 

and C03-C storage. Results suggest a need to reexamine earlier conclusions that 

tall forbs are the climax dominants of the Wasatch summer range. This research 

bears on the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER) plant succession schemes 

and was conducted on the fringe of the GBER territory.

089. Klemmedson, James O.; Tiedemann, Arthur R. 1998. Soil-vegetation relations 

of recovering subalpine range of the Wasatch Plateau. Great Basin Naturalist 

58(4): 352-362.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 48

On degraded subalpine range of the Wasatch Plateau, we examined the hypothesis 

that recovery of vegetation, as manifested by its composition and biomass yield, 

was related to soil phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) status. Six topographic locations were sampled to determine the relationship among composition and yield of 

grasses and forbs, litter cover, and soil characteristics including rock cover, organic 

carbon (Co), total N (Nt), available nitrogen (Nav), total phosphorus (Pt), organic 

P (Po) inorganic P (Pi) total potassium (K), total S (St), and element ratios; aspect 

effects were also evaluated. An alternative hypothesis was that productive potential 

was a function of depth of soil remaining after the period of destructive grazing. 

Differences among locations were significant for all vegetal attributes and for all 

soil characteristics except total K and Co. Aspect was significant only for forb yield 

and Pt. Regression coefficients for yield and percentage composition of grasses 

were always opposite in sign to those for forbs. Yield and composition of grasses 

and forbs as a group were oppositely and strongly related to soil element ratios of 

Co/Pt

, Nt/Po, Co/Pt, and Co/St, but were not related to soil Pt or St. There was no clear 

support for acceptance of the hypothesis that soil P and/or S were major factors in 

recovery of this subalpine range after destructive grazing, Differences in regression 

coefficients and lower r values among species within grass and forb groups, than 

for the groups themselves, to soil variables are a reflection of species individuality. 

This indicated a need to examine soil/vegetation relationships at the species level. 

Percentage compositions of grasses and forbs were oppositely related to the depth 

of A + B horizon, lending support to acceptance of the alternative hypothesis. This 

research bears on the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER) plant succession 

schemes and was conducted on the fringe of the GBER territory.

090. Korstian, Clarence F. 1921. Evaporation and soil moisture in relation to forest 

planting. Transactions of the Utah Academy of Sciences 2: 116-117.

With the great diversity of sites that are available throughout the Intermountain 

Region for forest planting, it has been difficult to select those upon which success 

is assured, especially toward the lower limits of tree growth in the chaparral or oakbrush zone, without knowledge of the relation of climate to plant growth. A detailed 

study of the evaporating power of the air and of the available soil moisture for a 

given site not only affords an expression of the water relations of the plants of that 

site but also considers the other factors. This problem is being studied intensively 

on the Ephraim Canyon watershed of the Manti National Forest in Sanpete County, 

Utah (Great Basin Experimental Range). During the last two growing seasons, the 

evaporating power of the air has been measured by means of the Livingston porous 

cup atmometer and soil samples were taken at 10-day intervals to show the march of 

soil moisture on the five important sites under study: (1) Manzanita (Arctostaphyllos platyphylla) association; (2) Wild apple (Peraphyllum ramosissimum) association; (3) Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) flat; (4) Sagebrush flat, denuded of all 

vegetation; (5) Oakbrush (Quercus gambelii) association. Empirical plantations of 

201 western yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) transplants were also established on 

each site. The march of the evaporating power of the air and of the soil moisture 

was illustrated graphically. The success of the western yellow pine plantations 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 49

does not correspond very closely with the evaporation intensity because the latter 

does not take into account the question of the available soil moisture. The results 

secured to date would indicate that a satisfactory expression of these factors could 

be indicated by the ratio of evaporation to soil moisture. The evaporating power 

of the air and the available soil moisture appear to be the chief physical factors in 

limiting the growth and development of plants in the chaparral zone.

091. Korstian, C. F. 1924. Density of cell sap in relation to environmental conditions in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Journal of Agricultural Research 

28(9): 845-907.

The investigation of the density of the cell sap of a large number of plants common 

to the important forest types of the Wasatch Mountains has yielded results of direct 

application in forest research. It shows that sap density may be used as an index of 

site in correlating the great complex of environmental factors with the physiological 

responses of the plant. The concentration of the sap of a species is not constant. It 

may be influenced by any of the environmental conditions affecting transpiration, 

the products of photosynthesis, or the supply of available soil moisture. Osmotic 

pressure in plants is more rapidly changed by fluctuations in the moisture conditions 

of the site than by temperature or light. Because of the wide range of sites covered 

in this investigation and the general agreement with the results of studies by other 

investigators, the following biological principles have been confirmed: (1) Annual 

herbaceous plants that complete their life cycle before the critically dry part of the 

growing season, and are therefore not subject to drought conditions, have low sap 

densities. (2) The concentration of the sap of woody species is much higher than 

that of herbaceous species. (3) During the growing season the lowest sap densities 

occur in those forest types that are well supplied with available moisture, whose 

plants are best adapted to secure it, and in which the complex of conditions is 

most favorable to plant growth. On the other hand, the highest densities occur on 

the most adverse (dry or saline) sites. (4) In the winter considerable variation in 

sap density is encountered, amounting in some cases to complete reversals of the 

densities of the growing season, due to changes in the soluble contents of the plant 

cells. In the case of evergreen shrubs, the conversion of starch to sugars materially 

increases the density of the sap. (5) A thick leaf having a compact structure with 

a thick epidermis and cuticle tends toward a lower sap concentration through its 

reduction of water loss from the leaf. The presence of epidermal coverings and 

hairs on the leaves also yields lower sap densities. (6) Greater sap densities are 

generally found in the more drought-resistant species. This project was performed, 

in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

092. Korstian, C. F.; Baker, F. S. 1925. Forest planting in the Intermountain Region. Department Bulletin No. 1264. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture. 57 p.

Reforestation by direct seeding is impracticable in the Intermountain region. The 

planting of nursery-grown stock, on the other hand has been successful under 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 50

favorable site conditions. The seed used in the nursery should have a high germinative energy and should be collected from trees of good form and development 

found in localities adjacent to the areas to be planted and having similar soil and 

climatic conditions. The seedlings and transplants should be given sufficient water 

to produce vigorous plants, but an excess should be avoided. Where necessary, 

protection should be afforded against intense sunlight, frost, and snow molding. 

Unusually heavy, calcareous clay soils should be avoided for nursery purposes. It 

is essential that the young tree, in order to become established when planted in the 

field, should be able to maintain a conservative balance between water absorption 

and water loss through transpiration. To accomplish this, the transplant must have 

a root system sufficiently long to reach into the soil strata that retain available 

moisture, even though prolonged dry periods, and sufficient extensive development 

of actively absorbing fibrous rootlets on the laterals to enable it to draw moisture 

from a large soil mass. In order to preclude excessive transpiration, the top must 

not be too large. The best time to plant any species in the Intermountain region 

is just as early in the spring following the disappearance of the snow as the soil 

can be worked. Growth of the stock must be retarded until after it is planted. The 

occurrence and development of native species growing on or adjacent to the site 

should largely govern the selection of species for the planting site. Native species 

have proved superior to exotics in every case tested. The native herbaceous and 

shrubby vegetation may be used as a further index. In western yellow pine and 

lodgepole pine, the best stock is 2-1 transplants; with Douglas fir and spruces, 3-1; 

or in the case of an exceptionally short-growing season the fourth year, 3-2 stock. 

Age class should be used as the criterion only in so far as it is indicative of the 

desirable qualities mentioned above. Artificial forestation is ultimately destined 

to occupy a more important place in the management of the national forests of the 

Intermountain region than at present. In this region, where agricultural development is primarily dependent on irrigation water derived almost altogether from 

national forest watersheds, watershed protection and water conservation through 

the equalization of stream flow are the primary objects to be achieved in forest 

planting, timber production on a commercial scale being of secondary importance. 

The best field for planting is in the high mountains, where relatively heavy stands 

can be grown that will have higher timber values as well as watershed protection 

values. Data and conclusions presented in this report were drawn, in part, from the 

Great Basin Experimental Range.

093. Laycock, W. A. 1969. Exclosures and natural areas on rangelands in Utah. 

Res. Pap. INT-62. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 44 p.

This report presents a listing of 529 areas in Utah that have received little or no use 

by domestic livestock. Areas are indexed by county, elevation, date established, 

vegetation type, and type of animal excluded. Locations are further described by 

section, township, and range; vegetation information is also given. The Great Basin 

Experimental Range is represented.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 51

094. Lull, Howard W. 1949. Watershed condition and flood potential. Journal of 

Forestry 47(1): 45-48.

A method of computing the expected runoff from a flood-producing storm on 

the Ephraim Creek Watershed is described in detail. Control measures needed to 

prevent such floods are suggested. This watershed lies, in part, in the Great Basin 

Experimental Range.

095. Lull, Howard W.; Ellison, Lincoln. 1950. Precipitation in relation to altitude 

in central Utah. Ecology 31(3): 479-484.

Occupancy of arid lowlands of the western United States is greatly influenced 

by relatively abundant precipitation in the mountains. This precipitation supports 

forests and forage, important in the lowland economy, that cannot grow at low 

elevations. Most important of all, mountain precipitation is the chief source of 

water for agricultural, industrial, and domestic use; and civilization in most of the 

West would be impossible without it. Mountain precipitation has a sinister aspect, 

too, in that it may give rise to destructive floods following misuse and depletion 

of vegetal cover. The Wasatch Plateau, which reaches a maximum elevation of 

11,282 feet, has a pronounced north and south trend. Precipitation records at four 

stations, ranging in elevation from 5,543 to 9,860 feet in Ephraim Canyon, on 

the west front of the Wasatch Plateau, are the basis for this paper. They cover the 

period 1934 to 1948 inclusive. Precipitation increases with elevation. The relation 

between precipitation and elevation is linear, as given by the equation (precipitation 

in inches, elevation in feet): P = 0.000494 E – 16.95. A zone of maximum precipitation, formerly believed to occur at intermediate elevations in Ephraim Canyon, 

is shown to be nonexistent, and is ascribable to concentrations of precipitation 

at Headquarters (8,850 feet) by a high cliff, together with loss of catch at Alpine 

(10,100 feet) because of windiness. The yearly pattern of precipitation is that of a 

sine curve, with a broad crest in late winter (February to April), and broad trough 

in late summer (July to September). The influence of elevation on precipitation is 

most marked in winter, least marked in summer. This difference is associated with 

a difference of storm types, which are predominantly general in winter and local 

and erratic in occurrence in summer. Most of the data collected for this report were 

collected on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

096. Lull, H. W.; Orr, H. K. 1950. Induced snow drifting for water storage. Journal 

of Forestry 48(3): 179-181.

If water in the form of snowdrifts can be stored on watersheds some of the critical 

limitations of western irrigation agriculture may be overcome. The authors present 

the results of preliminary investigations on natural and artificial drifting of snow 

together with suggestions as to how induced drifting may improve the usefulness of 

runoff. Data from the Great Basin Experimental Range were important in drawing 

the conclusions of this report.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 52

097. McArthur, E. Durant. 1992. In memoriam—A. Perry Plummer (1911-1991): 

teacher, naturalist, range scientist. Great Basin Naturalist 52(1): 1-10.

A. Perry Plummer died on 

October 3, 1991. His passing 

deserves comment because 

he was a man who made 

a difference in natural resource management and research in the Intermountain 

area. He spent his professional career (1936-1979) 

with the Intermountain 

Research Station (formerly 

the Intermountain Forest and 

Range Experiment Station) 

of the Forest Service, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture 

at duty stations in Utah near 

Milford and in Ogden, Ephraim, and Provo. He was the scientist in charge (equal 

to a director) of the Great Basin Experimental Range for more than 30 years and 

as such conducted and managed many research activities there.

098. McArthur, E. Durant. 2001. The Shrub Sciences Laboratory at 25 years: 

retrospective and prospective. In: McArthur, E. Durant; Fairbanks, DanielJ., 

compilers. Shrubland ecosystem genetics and biodiversity: proceedings; 2000 

June 13-15; Provo, UT. Proceedings RMRS-P-21. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 3-41.

The Shrub Sciences Laboratory celebrated its 25th anniversary with the symposium 

documented by these proceedings and a ceremony honoring people instrumental in 

its establishment: Mr. A. Perry Plummer represented Forest Service Research 

and Development and Dr. Howard C. Stutz represented Brigham Young University. The laboratory came into being because of the research foundation in 

Western shrub ecosystems generated by USDA Forest Service researchers and 

their colleagues and the need to carry on programmatic research in vast Western 

shrublands. Since establishment of the laboratory, dozens of scientists and professionals with technical and clerical support have conducted shrubland ecosystem 

research and development centered on shrubland ecosystem ecology and experimental range management including the Great Basin Experimental Range; seed 

quality testing and production and seed and seedbed ecology and adaptation; genetic 

variation, population biology, and systematics and taxonomy; breeding systems, 

hybridization, and hybrid zones; rangeland rehabilitation and restoration; equipment development, and cultural care of wildland species; soil/plant interactions, 

pathology, entomology, and mycorrhizae; nutritive quality, palatability, and wildlife habitat; and invasive weeds and weed biology. A continuing robust research 

program is anticipated that will build on previous research accomplishments, and 

will especially emphasize genetic variation and plant material development, fire 

Perry Plummer
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 53

susceptible ecosystems, invasive weed control and biology, and the ecology and 

restoration of ecosystems on the urban/wildland interface. Laboratory personnel 

and collaborators have published nearly 800 titles during the past quarter century.

099. McArthur, E. Durant. 2005. Appendix D: history of the Great Basin Station. 

In: Prevedel, David A.; McArthur, E. Durant; Johnson, Curtis M. Beginnings 

of range management: an anthology of the Sampson-Ellison photo plots 

(1913-2003) and a short history of the Great Basin Experiment Station. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-154. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 55-60.

This appendix documents the importance of research that has been conducted at 

the Great Basin Experimental Range and details the history of the facility including 

establishment, research programs including watershed studies, vegetation composition and dynamics studies, plant adaptation for revegetation and restoration of 

depleted and damaged rangelands and wildlands studies, plant phenology, vigor, 

and nutrition studies, and silvicultural studies. The contributions of many scientists and their lives with their families are reviewed as is the role of the GBER in 

education and training of scientists and others.

100. McArthur, E. Durant; Giunta, Bruce C.; Plummer, A. Perry. 1974. Shrubs for 

restoration of depleted ranges and disturbed areas. Utah Science 35(March): 

28-33.

This review article makes the case for the use of shrubs in restoration of depleted 

habitats based on research that characterized shrub adaptation including soil, 

climatic, latitudinal, and ecological tolerances. Shrubs in the Sunflower, Rose, and 

Goosefoot families in particular are useful in restoration planting in the Intermountain area. Background research leading to this review draws on work performed at 

the Great Basin Experimental Range.

101. McArthur, E. Durant; Monsen, Stephen B. 1996. Great Basin Experimental 

Range. In: Schmidt, Wyman C.; Friede, Judy L.; comps. Experimental forests, 

ranges, and watersheds in the Northern Rocky Mountains: a compendium 

of outdoor laboratories in Utah, Idaho, and Montana. Gen. Tech. Rep. 

INT-GTR-334. Ogden, UT Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station: 

23-28.

This contribution describes the setting, history, climate, soils, plant communities, 

examples of research, facilities, and location of the Great Basin Experimental 

Range. Data bases are also included (climate, vegetation, maps, photographs and 

publications).

102. McArthur, E. Durant; Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard. 1999. Field 

trip report: shrubland ecotones. In: McArthur, E. Durant; Oster, W. Kent; 

Wambolt, Carl L., comps. Proceedings: shrubland ecotones; 1998 August 

12-14, Ephraim, UT. Proceedings RMRS-P-11. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 293-299.
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The field trip was held on August 13, 1998, accompanied by beautiful weather. 

It featured visits to the Salt Creek big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) hybrid 

zone on the Uinta National Forest and the Great Basin Experimental Range on the 

Manti-La Sal National Forest. The eight stops afforded opportunities to see and 

better understand the structure and dynamics of several plant communities and 

ecotones as well as the sagebrush hybrid zone and to learn about past and ongoing 

research and management in these areas. The field trip facilitated discussion on 

how management practices affect communities and their interfaces or ecotones. 

This report documents the field trip and provides information for those who may 

visit the sites in the future.

103. McArthur, E. Durant; Pope, C. Lorenzo; Freeman, D. Carl. 1981. Chromosomal 

studies of subgenus Tridentatae of Artemisia: evidence for autopolyploidy. 

American Journal of Botany 68(5): 589-605.

The sagebrushes (subgenus Tridentatae of Artemisia—new combination presented 

in the text) are western North America’s most widespread and populous shrub 

group. Chromosome counts from 120 populations, including some from the Great 

Basin Experimental Range, confirm the base chromosome number at x = 9 with 

numerous 2n = 2x =18 diploids and 2n = 4x = 36 tetraploids. Few higher polyploids are known, and aneuploidy and supernumerary chromosomes are rare. All 

11 Tridentatae species are now known cytologically. All but the narrowly endemic 

A. argillosa are known from at least three locations: A. arbuscula (2n = 18, 36), 

A. bigelovii (2n = 18, 36), A. cana (2n = 18, 36); A. longiloba (2n = 18. 36); A. nova 

(2n = 18, 36); A. pygmaea (2n = 18, 36); A. rigida (2n = 18, 36); A. rothrockii

(2n = 18, 36, 54, ca. 72); A. tridentata (2n = 18, 36, 54), and A. tripartita (2n = 

18, 36). The chromosome number of A. argillosa, reported here for the first time, 

is 2n = 36. Chromosome numbers of eight subspecies also have been determined. 

The subgenus is characterized by autopolyploidy as indicated by morphologically 

indistinguishable 2x and 4x plants, a few mixed ploidy populations, consistent 

formation of quadravalents in 4x PMCs, a relatively uniform 2x karyotype, and a 

4x karyotype, which is approximately twice the 2x one. Karotypic differences, if 

they exist at all, are on a populational level rather a systematic taxonomic level. 

The Tridentatae have apparently rapidly differentiated in situ in North America 

under the stimulus of recurring aridic cycles since late Tertiary or early Quaternary. 

They likely derive from more primitive circumboreal stock originating from the 

Eurasian homeland of Artemisia. The differentiation forms of Tridentatae were 

seemingly achieved through genic rather than genomic means. Karyotypic analysis 

supports a position within Tridentatae of A. rigida, A. bigelovii, and A. pygmaea.

104. McCarty, Edward C. 1938. The relation of growth to the varying carbohydrate content in mountain brome. Tech. Bull. No. 598. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, U.S. Government Printing Office. 24 p.

A detailed field and laboratory study was made at the Great Basin Branch of the 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental 

Range) during the period 1932-1934, to determine the character of growth and 
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the time and amount of carbohydrate food storage in mountain brome (Bromus 

carinatus), a highly palatable range forage grass native to a large part of western 

mountain rangelands. The experimental area is located at an elevation of 8,850 feet 

in Ephraim Canyon, Utah. Annual growth of mountain brome is cyclic in nature, 

owing in part to atmospheric temperatures and in part to the plant’s reproductive 

processes. The growth cycle includes current seasonal growth of herbage, secondary herbage growth, and root growth. Annual herbage growth begins some 45 

to 89 days before winter snow disappears. Secondary shoot growth follows the 

production of the current seasonal shoots and flower stalks. The general trend of 

the combined sugar and starch fractions is from low values during the formative 

stage of shoot development to high concentrations following current seasonal and 

secondary herbage growth. The starch values in both herbage and basal organs 

exceed the sugar values; their respective seasonal trends correspond to those of the 

combined sugar and starch fractions. The study leads to the conclusion that sugars 

and starches are the more potent of the stored carbohydrate foods. Conversely, the 

behavior of the acid-hydrolysable hemicelluloses suggests that this carbohydrate 

is employed largely, as structural material. Evidence from the study warrants the 

conclusion that relatively high concentration of sugars in the basal organs and in 

the newly developed shoots on mountain brome are associated with resistance to 

low temperature and are essential to winter survival of the plants.

105. McCarty, Edward C.; Price, Raymond. 1942. Growth and carbohydrate 

content of important mountain forage plants in central Utah as affected by 

clipping and grazing. Tech. Bull. No. 818. Washington, DC: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, U.S. Government Printing Office. 51 p.

The findings of these studies of the growth and carbohydrate nutrition of two perennial range grasses and two broadleaf herbaceous range plants native to the Great 

Basin Experimental Range of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah, under natural 

conditions and total protection, clipping, and cattle grazing, are of importance 

as a basis for conservation measures and wise grazing use on western mountain 

rangelands. Research results lead to the following conclusions: (1) Although presence of snow and influence of other adverse climatic elements make it necessary 

to utilize high mountain ranges during the summer season when the plants are 

growing and producing herbage, such grazing should be so coordinated with the 

critical growth and developmental stages of the principal perennial forage plants 

that the plants may assimilate and store sufficient plant foods to maintain growth 

and produce herbage for forage in subsequent years. (2) Critical periods in the life 

cycle of the plants studied, as measured by the carbohydrate reserves at the end 

of the growing seasons and yield and vigor of the plants are (a) from flower stalk 

formation (including seed ripening)—the active reproduction period; and (b) during 

the forepart of the normal carbohydrate-storage period, which in the mountains of 

Utah takes place during August and September. Grazing should be slackened during these periods. (3) Early grazing, when plants are 4 to 6 inches high, provided 

it is not too frequent, and grazing near the close of the growing season, when the 

herbage is dry or drying, appear to be the safer periods of use if grazing is to be 

restricted as to periods.
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106. McGinnies, W. G. 1930. The value of physical factor measurements in range 

research. Ecology 11(4): 771-776.

The vegetation on a given area at a given time represents a summation of all the 

factors acting to produce it. Any change in any factor or factors that changes 

the total effect of all the factors will bring about a change in the vegetation. The 

individual factors on two areas with identical vegetation composition are not necessarily the same, but the sum will be. Where the summation is different on two 

areas an equal change in one factor in each may produce divergent results. This 

accounts for the divergent reaction of a given forage species to grazing under different environmental conditions. Successional changes are brought about largely 

by the building up of a developed environment on the physical environment, and 

reflect the interactions between plants and animals and the basic physical habitat. 

Grazing by rodents, game animals, and domestic stock is a normal factor in successional changes; the absence of grazing is abnormal. Under ordinary conditions 

found in the Rocky Mountain Region, each species under minimum precipitation 

conditions gives way when grazed, withstands grazing under optimum precipitation 

conditions, and moves into areas of greater precipitation as that habitat becomes 

more xeric with overgrazing. An exact knowledge of the basic physical environment and the developed biological environment is necessary before advance can 

be made in range investigations. Data and experience obtained at the Great Basin 

Experimental Range were important in the preparation of this article.

107. McGinnies, William J. 1959. The relationship of furrow depth to moisture 

content of soil and to seedling establishment on a range soil. Agronomy 

Journal 51(1): 13-14.

The use of furrows 2 to 4 inches deep significantly increased soil moisture available for seed germination on a range soil by reducing the rate of moisture loss. 

Seedling establishment was improved by using a 4-inch deep furrow. This research 

was performed at the Great Basin Experimental Range.

Great Basin Experimental Range Watersheds A and B
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108. Meeuwig, Richard O. 1960. Watersheds A and B: a study of surface runoff 

and erosion in the subalpine zone of Central Utah. Journal of Forestry 58(6): 

556-560.

Watersheds A and B, in the head of Ephraim Canyon in central Utah on the 

Great Basin Experimental Range, have been under continuous study since they 

were established in 1912 to provide information on the influence of herbaceous 

cover on surface runoff and erosion. This study, still in progress, has yielded 

information on surface runoff and erosion under a variety of herbaceous cover 

conditions. Among the many important facts learned from this long-term study 

are these: (1) Natural recovery of damaged watersheds proceeds very slowly 

under the particular soil and climatic conditions of this area (clay loam soils, 

high intensity summer storms, and variable plant cover). (2) Restoration treatments hasten recovery of damaged areas with an accompanying improvement 

in quality and quantity of forage production. (3) There is a minimum ground 

cover essential to the control of surface runoff and erosion.

109. Meeuwig, Richard O. 1965. Effects of seeding and grazing on infiltration 

capacity and soil stability of a subalpine range in central Utah. Journal of 

Range Management 18(4): 173-180.

Seven years after disking and seeding to grass, main effects were (1) decreased 

organic matter and capillary porosity in the surface soil; (2) greater soil bulk density; and (3) decreased plant and litter cover. Seeding did not significantly affect 

infiltration or soil stability. Grazing during the previous 4 years decreased plant 

and litter cover and non-capillary soil porosity, but increased capillary porosity 

in the surface soil and decreased infiltration and soil stability. This research was 

conducted on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

110. Meeuwig, Richard O. 1970. Sheet erosion on Intermountain summer ranges. 

Res. Pap. INT-85. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 25 p.

Simulated rain was applied to small plots on seven mountain rangeland sites in 

Utah, Idaho, and Montana. Multiple regression equations were developed for each 

site relating the resultant erosion to cover characteristics, soil properties, and slope 

gradient. The magnitude of erosion was found to depend primarily on the proportion of the soil surface protected from direct raindrop impact by plants, litter, and 

(in some cases) stone. Soil organic matter favored stability of fine-textured soils, 

but apparently increased erodibility of sandy soils. The regression equations are 

presented in tabular and nomographic form to aid the land manager in the assessment of potential sheet erosion on sites similar to those studied. Data from the 

Great Basin Experimental Range were used in this study.

111. Meuggler, Walter F; Campbell, Robert B., Jr. 1986. Aspen community types 

of Utah. Res. Pap. INT-362. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 69 p.
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A vegetation classification for the aspen-dominated forest of Utah is based upon 

existing community structure and plant species composition. Included are 36 community types that occur within six cover type categories. A diagnostic key using 

indicator species facilitates field identification of the community types. Vegetational 

composition, productivity, and successional status are included. Tables provide 

detailed comparisons of community types. The classification and descriptions are 

based on data from over 1,200 aspen stands scattered across the six National Forests within Utah including the Great Basin Experimental Range of the Manti-La 

Sal National Forest.

112. Monsen, Stephen B. 2004. History of range and wildlife habitat restoration 

in the Intermountain West. In: Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard; Shaw, 

Nancy L. comps. Restoring western ranges and wildlands. Gen. Tech. Rep. 

RMRS GTR-136. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station: 1-5.

This review highlights the contributions of the Great Basin Experimental Range to 

the broader context of range and wildlife habitat restoration in the Intermountain 

West. Much foundational research on range and habitat restoration was started or 

gained traction at the Great Basin Experimental Range.

113. Monsen, Stephen B.; Stevens, Richard; Shaw, Nancy L., comps. 2004. Restoring western ranges and wildlands. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS GTR-136. 

Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky 

Mountain Research Station. 3 volumes, 884 p.

This three-volume set provides background on philosophy, processes, plant materials selection, site preparation and seed and seeding equipment for revegetating 

disturbed rangelands, emphasizing use of native species. The conclusions and 

recommendations were drawn, in part, from research experiences on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range where the first efforts were begun that culminated in 

this publication.

114. Monsen, Stephen, B.; Stevens, Richard; Walker, Scott C. 1996. The competitive influence of seeded smooth brome (Bromus inermis) and intermediate 

wheatgrass (Thinopyron intermedium) within aspen-mountain brush communities of central Utah. In: West, N. E., ed. Rangelands in a sustainable 

biosphere, proceedings of the Fifth International Rangeland Congress; 1995 

July 23-25; Salt Lake City, UT. Volume 1. Denver, CO: Society for Range 

Management: 379-380.

Ecological relationships of smooth brome (Bromus inermis) and intermediate 

wheatgrass (Thinopyron intermedium) with native species were investigated 

through comparison of seeded and nonseeded sites on the Great Basin Research 

Area (Great Basin Experimental Range), Manti-La Sal National Forest. Within a 

40-year period, the two sod-forming seeded grasses gained dominance and reduced 

native herbs and shrubs. Both introduced grasses as commonly planted to stabilize 
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wildlands, but are proving to be non-compatible with most native species and ultimately dominate seeded sites.

115. Nelson, Enoch W. 1930. Mapping of browse areas. Journal of Forestry 28(1): 

91-92.

Since the meter quadrat method of charting cannot be used in mapping large browse 

specimens, the following methods have been devised for mapping browse sample 

plots at the Great Basin Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental Range). 

The plots used vary in size from 1 to 3 square rods. Each browse specimen on a 

plot is accurately located on a map, which shows the location of the stem or stems 

of the plant as well as the crown spread. In mapping the browse specimens two 

methods may be used. One of these is the traverse board method. Several set-ups 

of the board are made over the plot that is being mapped, each set-up being directly 

over a permanent peg. A steel surveyor’s tape is attached to the peg underneath the 

traverse board for obtaining distances to the various browse plants. The other method 

is the gridiron method. In it the plot is subdivided into small units with the aid of 

cord, surveyor’s pins, and a steel measuring tape. Different points are located by 

measuring out from the intersection of the cord and then shown on a map sheet that 

has been ruled off into small units to correspond to the subdivisions of the plot. As 

a check against measurement of grazing use, plant vigor experiments were started 

in which the twigs and leaves of birchleaf mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) and 

snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus) are clipped to various intensities and at 

various times during the growing season. The ability to maintain the vigor of twig 

and leaves clipped under the different methods of treatment is noted.

116. Nelson, Enoch W. 1930. Methods of studying shrubby plants in relation to 

grazing. Ecology 11(4): 764-769.

During the past five years, methods for studying shrubby vegetation in range management and watershed protection investigations have been developed at the Great 

Basin Experimental Range near Ephraim, Utah. The methods are used to obtain 

detailed data in the field on the character and extent of shrub cover, plant succession in the brush type, rate and period of growth of shrub species, and the influence 

of grazing and other factors on these plants. The methods involve (1) mapping 

shrubby plants by species on selected areas; (2) recording stages of development 

and measuring growth throughout the growing season; (3) observing and measuring growth throughout the grazing season, and (4) clipping shrubs to determine 

empirically the influence of various intensities of grazing upon their yield and vigor. 

The controlled clipping studies were supplemented by hurdle plots to be opened 

and closed to grazing at certain intervals during the grazing season. It is expected 

that the data developed by these methods may indicate the value of various shrub 

species for grazing, and will be of value as a basis for developing adequate range 

management and watershed conservation of brush lands.

117. Norman, Liane Ellison. 2012. Breathing the West: Great Basin poems. Huron, 

OH: Bottom Dog Press. 94 p.
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These poems are drawn, in part, from the journals of the author’s father, Great 

Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) Director and eminent ecologist 

Lincoln Ellison as well as her memories of the natural world and growing up, in 

part, at the Great Basin Station. Of the 70 poems included in this book, 14 treat 

life at the Station and another 11 are descriptive, philosophical, or insightful of 

ecology and natural history drawn from her father’s journal entries or her experiences at the Station.

118. Norman, Liane Ellison. 2012. Roundtrip. Pittsburgh, PA: Yesterday’s Party 

Press. 38 p.

This booklet of 26 poems of the author’s insights of life includes 16 poems that 

are also presented in the previous entry. Eight of them deal with life growing up 

at the Great Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) or with ecology and 

natural history there.

119. Orr, Howard K. 1957. Effects of plowing and seeding on some forage production and hydrologic characteristics of a subalpine range on central Utah. Res. 

Pap. INT-47. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 23 p.

Reseeding and protection from grazing for 3 years brought about a substantial 

improvement in the quality and quantity of subalpine-herbaceous forage on parts 

of the Manti Canyon range rehabilitation project area. By the third year of the improvement program, the tested portion of the treated area also provided control of 

surface runoff, infiltration, and erosion approximately equal to that of untreated, 

paired areas. Further improvement in both forage production and control of storm 

runoff and erosion should occur in the next few years providing the treated area is 

so managed as to allow for the full development of the newly established young 

plants, for the establishment and growth of new seedlings, and for the accumulation 

of litter. Additional measurements will be required in the years ahead to determine 

the potential effects of the treatment program. The Great Basin Experimental Range 

was integral to this study.

120. Parker, Kenneth, W.; Blaisdell, James P. 1968. Renovating big-game ranges. 

In: USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, Science for better living. Washington, 

DC: Government Printing Office: 223-229.

Those old “happy hunting grounds” of the great army of American sportsmen are 

being restored in the West. In years past, domestic livestock or big-game animals or 

both have seriously over used vast areas. The plants, which provided the best forage, 

have been destroyed in the process. This problem is especially acute during severe 

winters with deep snow when the herds of deer and elk cannot find enough food, 

and so many animals starve to death. Fortunately, this problem is being vigorously 

attacked, and much progress has already been made from Arizona to Montana and 

from California to the Dakotas. A man with a “green thumb,” A. Perry Plummer, a 

dedicated Forest Service scientist in charge of the Great Basin Experimental Range, 

is one of several who are uncovering the know-how for successfully restoring 
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valuable food and cover plants, both for domestic and wild animals. His work is 

on Intermountain rangelands. Thousands of acres of big-game winter range have 

already been improved. But much remains to be done, both by researchers and land 

administrators. Millions of acres in the West need renovation. Of course, there is 

a large backlog of information on seeding on ranges with grasses, developed by 

research since the turn of the century by the State agricultural experiment stations 

and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But, this article is mainly the story of 

restoration of ranges with shrubs, often referred to as “browse,” on which comparatively little research has been done. The research effort led by Plummer has been 

aimed mainly at finding desirable grasses, forbs, and shrubs suitable for restoring 

deteriorated winter ranges; determining planting requirements for individual species; and developing methods for seeding and planting, including elimination of 

the competition caused by unwanted vegetation.

121. Pearce, C. Kenneth; Hull, A. C., Jr. 1943. Some economic aspects of reseeding range lands. Journal of Forestry 41(5): 346-358.

Successful plantings of deteriorated rangelands have attracted much attention 

throughout the Intermountain region in recent years. Well-planned and carefully 

executed reseeding projects produce good stands that significantly improve the 

range. The cost-benefit relationships of this work, however, need to be more 

critically examined. The need for increased meat and wool production in our war 

effort and the promise of range reseeding as a huge work reservoir in post-war 

conservation program makes the consideration of the subject particularly timely. 

Activities on the Great Basin Experimental Range were integral to the conclusions 

drawn in this report.

122. Pearce, C. Kenneth; Plummer, A. Perry; Savage, D. A. 1948. Restoring the 

range by reseeding. In: USDA Yearbook of Agriculture. Washington, DC: 

Government Printing Office: 227-233.

Full restoration of much of the rangeland in need of improvement will require 

more than better grazing management. About 80 million acres of rangeland have 

been so badly depleted that they will have to be reseeded artificially if they are to 

recover in our generation. Satisfactory methods have not yet been developed for 

reseeding all situations, but progress is being made. Already more than 5 million 

acres have been planted. Range reseeding is usually done on an extensive basis 

on lands unsuited for cultivation and at comparatively low cost. Plowing, except 

to reduce competition from undesirable plants, is usually not attempted; seedbeds 

are not generally prepared. Reseeding, to be most effective, should be done where 

the chance of success is good and where increased forage will help most in making 

better use of the land and in increasing livestock production. For each area to be 

seeded, success depends on knowing what to seed, when to seed, and how to seed 

economically. Activities on the Great Basin Experimental Range were integral to 

the conclusions drawn in this report.

123. Pechanec, Joseph F. 1940. Forest Service range research seminar. Ecology 

21(3): 422-424.
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During the period July 10 to 22, 1939, a seminar on range research methods and 

procedures was held by the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, at the Great Basin Experiment Station near Ephraim, Utah, a branch of the 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, with headquarters at Ogden, 

Utah. Washington Office representatives of the divisions of range research, range 

management, and wildlife management, the directors, division leaders, and range 

research staff members of the western regional forest and range experiment stations, the assistant regional foresters in charge of wildlife and range management 

of the western forest regions, and several other Forest Service members were in 

attendance. This was the second meeting of this type to be held at the Great Basin 

Station during the last 10-year period. In 1931, an ecological and range methodology meeting was held under the auspices of the Ecological Society of America. 

Ecologists throughout the West participated. The purpose of the 1939 intra-bureau 

meeting was to aid in strengthening the Forest Service attack on the broad western 

range problems and to redefine or clarify the objectives of the range research organization. Discussion centered on the problems being encountered, the methods to 

be used in their solution, and the other measures necessary to facilitate the conduct 

of range research and the dissemination of results. At the time of the 1939 meeting, 

range research had to its credit such contributions as the development of rotation 

deferred system of grazing, invention and development of range reconnaissance or 

range surveys, foundation data on growth requirements and value of range plants, 

improved methods for grazing sheep and goats such as open and quiet herding and 

bedding them down in a new place every night, improved salting and better-placed 

watering places, the eradication of tall larkspur, the building of indicators of range 

conditions, and the crusading against range deterioration and erosion. These are 

contributions to management of the western ranges. But ahead are many complex 

problems such as the determination of the grazing capacity of western range types, 

proper degree and season of use for many of the key forage species, standards of 

range forage utilization, methods of artificial range revegetation, and improved 

methods of securing livestock distribution on the range. Inadequate information on 

these and closely related problems such as the correction of nutritional deficiencies 

of range livestock, plant breeding as an approach to forage improvement, interrelationships of rodents and other wildlife with range livestock, and the social and 

economic aspects of range livestock management hindering the most efficient use 

of range forage resources.

124. Plummer, A. Perry. 1946. Mountain bromegrass—good for seeding mountain 

ranges. National Wool Grower 36(5): 14.

Native mountain bromegrass (Bromus carinatus) is an excellent grass for seeding 

mountain ranges in the Intermountain region that receive in excess of 14 inches of 

annual precipitation. It is strictly a bunchgrass but establishes itself readily, is aggressive, matures quickly, and is productive. This grass species is particularly well 

adapted for seeding under aspen depleted of the herbaceous undercover. Merely 

broadcasting the seed under aspen just prior to, during, or immediately after leaf fall 

has produced good stands. Mountain brome is one of the most aggressive grasses in 

establishing itself on annual weed openings and on raw depleted soils. Brush flats 
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on the higher mountains can also be successfully sown to mountain bromegrass. 

On areas that are occupied with other vegetation, however, whether annual weeds 

or brush, it pays to eliminate such vegetation prior to seeding. Experience on the 

Great Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

125. Plummer, A. Perry. 1947. Make Utah ranges productive...artificial seeding of 

rangelands will help protect the livestock industry of our State. Utah Farmer 

67(1): 26; 67(2): 10, 23.

Past plantings show that from two to many times more forage can be grown on 

many Utah ranges when seeded by proper methods to adapted species. For example, 

yields from 12 early test plantings established from 17 to 35 years ago at the Great 

Basin Research Center (Great Basin Experimental Range) in Ephraim Canyon 

are currently producing increased forage yields equivalent to more than one cow 

month or five sheep months pasturage an acre more than the adjacent nonseeded 

range. The plantings are on mountain brush, aspen, and high mountain meadows.

126. Plummer, A. Perry. 1959. Restoration of juniper-pinyon ranges in Utah. Proceedings, Society of American Foresters 1958: 207-211.

In 1956 and 1957, 10 and 11 years after the seeding, current production was estimated on small plots enclosing old sagebrush and rabbitbrush plants and on similar 

plots away from the shrubs. Estimated grass yields were virtually the same whether 

brush was present or absent; this suggests that the shrubs were not suppressing grass 

production appreciably. If so, the browse produced by 790 plants per acre of big 

sagebrush and 990 of rubber rabbitbrush may be considered as a bonus in ground 

cover and in browse for game and sheep. A similar apparent lack of suppression 

of grass by shrubs has been noted in the mountain brush zone where old plantings 

of grass were growing with several shrub species. These observations are contrary 

to many others on grass-shrub associations, but they may be valid under certain 

conditions. They point to the need for a better evaluation of the part shrubs may 

play in making ranges most productive. Certainly there is a balance of browse and 

herbaceous cover that is more productive than either class alone. Experience on 

the Great Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

127. Plummer, A. Perry. 1960. Restoring mule deer range. In: Bond, Jim. The mule 

deer. Portland, OR: Conger Printing Company: 109-112.

The information in this book chapter included in author Jim Bond’s book was 

drawn, in part, from the author’s experiences at the Great Basin Experimental 

Range. Utah and the Great Basin is a land of shrubs. Mule deer are well adapted 

to shrub habitats. However there has been a substantial attrition of important mule 

deer forage and cover plants including antelope bitterbrush, curl-leaf mahogany, 

fourwing saltbush, and winterfat as well as elimination on many winter ranges of 

the early spring-growing broadleaf herbs and grasses that produce succulent and 

high protein forage needed to sustain winter-weakened does and their offspring. 

It is necessary to reverse this attrition through habitat restoration if healthy deer 

populations are to be sustained. The most important part of restoring game ranges 
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is to have seed available of well-adapted plants. Among important qualifications of 

suitable plants are that they have enough amplitude of adaptation and establishment 

to be useful over a wide range of sites. To discover the amplitude of adaptation as 

rapidly as possible, species and populations are first planted in small plots on an 

area relatively near the lower and upper edges of the deer winter range. Establishment of desirable species can be accomplished by transplanting or by seeding. 

These techniques are being evaluated for effectiveness.

128. Plummer, A. Perry. 1967. Experimental crownvetch plantings. Range Improvement Notes. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain 

Region 12(2): 13-14.

In Ephraim Canyon on the Great Basin Experimental Range on the Manti-LaSal 

National Forest, experimental plantings of crownvetch (Coronilla varia) during 

the past 4 years have been observed. Crownvetch is native to the Mediterranean 

basin. The plantings have been evaluated for adaptability and erosion control and for 

possible usefulness as game forage. They were planted in openings in the oakbrush 

zone at an elevation of 7,100 feet with an average annual precipitation of about 

16 inches. Both direct seeding and seedling transplants from greenhouse grown 

plants were established and evaluated. The seed was inoculated with the nodule 

bacteria (Rhizobia). Overall performance by both direct seeding and transplants 

has been outstanding.

129. Plummer, A. Perry. 1970. Plants for revegetation of roadcuts and other disturbed 

or eroded areas. Range Improvement Notes, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Intermountain Region 15(1): 1-8.

A fairly large number of shrub and herb species can be used to cover and stabilize 

eroded areas such as roadcuts, fills, roadsides and seriously eroded areas. The areas 

treated in this research were those from which the topsoil had been largely removed. 

Six major purposes for establishing vegetation on such areas are: (1)Stabilize the site 

against erosion and reduce hazards of silt pollution in streams; (2) prevent undesirable plants from gaining a competitive foothold; (3) beautify the area with desirable 

vegetation; (4) establish vegetation to screen unsightly backgrounds; (5) furnish 

shade and food for wildlife; (6) provide shade and pleasant environment for people. 

Nursery stock, greenhouse and cold frame seedlings, cuttings, and wildings were 

used in transplanting experiments. Direct seeding was used as well, especially for 

herbaceous species. In this review, emphasis was placed on shrubs because of the 

recent demand for such information. The merits of more than 90 shrub species as 

well as about two dozen species of forbs and grasses are given. In carrying out 

revegetation plantings, special attention should be given to the following principles: 

(1) use only species and ecotypes adapted to the site; (2) plant mixtures, rather 

than single species, that will stabilize the soil and harmonize with the landscape; 

(3) make certain that transplants are properly planted and that seeds are adequately 

covered; (4) do planting in a suitable season; (5) reduce competition from other 

vegetation to adequate levels; (6) protect planted areas from damage by animals. 

Experience on the Great Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.
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130. Plummer, A. Perry. 1974. Oldman wormwood to stabilize disturbed areas. 

Utah Science 35(March): 26-27.

Oldman wormwood (Artemisia abrotanum), sometimes called southern wood, 

European sage, and ornamental sage, is a European shrub that was successfully introduced into the United States during the 19th century. Over the past 

35 years it has proved well adapted to the wide variety of soils that range from 

fairly alkaline and fairly acidic in the Intermountain West including the Great 

Basin Experimental Range and other parts of the Wasatch Plateau and Wasatch 

Mountains. It is established best from rooted cuttings.

131. Plummer, A. Perry. 1976. Shrubs for the subalpine zone of the Wasatch Plateau. 

In: Zuck, R. H.; Brown, L. F., eds. Proceedings: High altitude revegetation 

workshop No. 2. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University Information 

Series No. 21: 33-40.

Most of the native shrubs on the subalpine areas of the Great Basin Experimental 

Range on the Wasatch Plateau have been trial planted. Wildlings of some species were transplanted as early as 1913. These early trials, and more recent direct 

seeding and transplanting experiments, have identified a number of shrubs that 

have promise as ground cover and forage. Important among these are mountain 

snowberry (Symphoricarpos oreophilus), lanceleaf rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus 

viscidiflorus ssp. lanceolatus), Rothrock big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. 

rothrockii), redberry elder (Sambucus racemosa ssp. pubescens var. microbotrys), 

and mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana). Mechanical seed 

harvesting appears feasible for some shrubs, but, to a large extent, hand techniques 

are necessary. The development of seed orchards at lower elevations appears feasible.

132. Plummer, A. Perry. 1977. Revegetation of disturbed Intermountain Area sites. 

In: Thames, John L., ed. Reclamation and use of disturbed Intermountain 

sites. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press: 302-339.

A number of shrubs, grasses, trees, and forbs are useful for revegetating bare or 

eroded areas by direct seeding or transplanting. While there are new species and 

variants to be discovered or developed for particular sites, and sufficient numbers 

of adapted plants are known for fairly adequate revegetation of most sites, seeds 

and transplanting stock may not be available for some species. A critical need exists for areas from which desirable and adapted plants can be readily obtained for 

transplanting. To get the needed plant materials assembled requires planning 2 to 

5 years ahead. Unfortunately, this is generally not done. The species adaptation 

attributes and adaptation of disturbance areas for some 130 shrub and tree species, 

40 forb species, and 35 grass species were evaluated for use in revegetation projects. 

The beginning background research and some continuing research for revegetation 

was conducted at the Great Basin Experimental Range.
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133. Plummer, A. Perry; Christensen, Donald R; Monsen, Stephen B. 1967. Highlights, results and accomplishments of game range restoration studies, 1966. 

Restoring big game ranges in Utah. Publication No. 67-4. Salt Lake City, UT: 

Utah Division of Fish and Game. 45 p.

This publication, based in part on results from the Great Basin Experimental Range, 

relates accomplishments and highlights of findings from the past year’s investigative endeavor. An attempt has been made to integrate the most current results 

with those of the former 10 years. Results are derived from activities under 17 

objectives divided among 7 jobs: (1) species adaptation, (2) recognition of suitable 

sites, (3) germination, (4) site preparation and planting, (5) protecting plantings 

from biological factors, (6) species and cover changes on restored areas, and 

(7) formulation of practical recommendations. By way of detail, there are more 

than 100 species, including shrubs, forbs, and grasses, which have shown sufficient 

adaptation to establish them as useful in improving habitat in some important way 

for game.

134. Plummer, A. Perry; Christensen, Donald R; Monsen, Stephen B. 1968. Restoring big game ranges in Utah. Publication No. 68-3. Salt Lake City, UT: 

Utah Division of Fish and Game. 183 p.

Artificial restoration of Utah’s extensive, but often depleted, big game ranges can 

greatly increase productivity for both game and livestock, and can also improve soil 

stability. All important ranges of the state support upland game, and runoff from 

these areas drains into streams and lakes that support aquatic life on which fish 

and waterfowl subsist. Consequently, restoration of low-producing, eroding game 

range areas is urgently required. This bulletin reports what has been learned about 

adapted plants and useful techniques for improving range productivity beginning 

with work on the Great Basin Experimental Range. It also describes procedures and 

treatments that have proved to be effective. Much of the big game range in states 

adjacent to Utah is plagued by the same problems that beset Utah range; hence 

the treatments reported here will be useful in improving extensive range areas in 

these neighboring states.

135. Plummer, A. Perry; Christensen, Donald R.; Stevens, Richard; Hancock, 

Norman V. 1970. Improvement of forage for habitat and game. In: 50th 

annual conference of Western Association of State Game and Fish Commissioners; 1970 15 July: 1-12.

Ten principles for successful restoration of Utah game ranges are given: (1) Changes 

in plant cover by the proposed measures must be determined to be desirable—often 

a change in management to permit lighter grazing by livestock so that desirable 

species can develop may be all that is required. (2) Terrain and soil types must be 

suited to changes selected—the soil and terrain should be carefully considered to 

determine where appropriate treatment would produce the most forage for game. 

(3) Precipitation must be adequate to assure establishment and survival of seeded 

plants—the amount of precipitation, along with occurrence of indicator plants, is 
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the most important guide to what species may be seeded successfully. (4) Competition must be low enough to assure that desired species can be established—anchor 

chaining has been developed as a highly versatile, effective, economical, and widely 

applicable method for eliminating competition of trees and shrubs. (5) Only species 

and strains of plants adapted to the area should be planted—seeded species must be 

able to establish and maintain themselves and there should be a balance of shrubs, 

forbs, and grasses. (6) Mixtures, rather than single species, should be planted—it 

is advantageous to seed mixtures when the major purpose of restoration is for the 

improvement of game range. (7) Sufficient seed of acceptable purity and viability 

should be planted to assure getting a stand—the amount per acre depends on seed 

purity, size and viability, and whether seeds are drilled or broadcast. (8) Seed must 

be covered sufficiently—deeper than 1⁄2 inch planting is seldom desirable and leaving seed exposed is unsatisfactory. (9) Planting should be done in the season of 

optimum conditions for establishment—whenever climate permits, seeding in the 

winter is best. (10) The planted area must be adequately protected—young plants 

and seedlings should not be grazed or severely trampled by livestock, big game, 

rabbits, rodents, or insects. Experience on the Great Basin Experimental Range 

was integral to this report.

136. Plummer, A. Perry; Fenley, John M. 1950. Seasonal periods for planting 

grasses in the subalpine zone of central Utah. Research Paper 18. Ogden, 

UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest 

and Range Experiment Station. 12 p.

Comparison of seasonal planting for grasses useful for revegetation in the subalpine 

zone of the Great Basin Experimental Range showed that winterkill is responsible 

for the high seedling mortality from planting in the later summer and early fall.

137. Plummer, A. Perry; Frischknecht, Neil C. 1952. Increasing field stands of 

Indian ricegrass. Agronomy Journal 44(6): 285-289.

Spring and fall planting trials using three intensities of acid treatment on 10 lots of 

seed were conducted at three different field locations (dry desert shadscale, valley 

sagebrush, and mountain brush) in which Indian ricegrass had been a prominent 

component of the indigenous vegetation. Under field conditions the two lighter 

acid treatments, which only weakened the seed coat, gave higher emergence. The 

degree of treatment can be determined by inspection; it should be enough to soften 

the seed coat thoroughly but not enough to expose the endosperm. It is probably 

that the ultimate solution to the problem of obtaining successful stands of Indian 

ricegrass will be the selection of strains adaptable to differing soil and climatic conditions. In the meantime, locally grown seed, acid-treated to not exceed a moderate 

intensity, will improve field stands. Study sites from the Great Basin Experimental 

Range were used in this report.

138. Plummer, A. Perry; Hull, A. C., Jr.; Stewart, George; Robertson, Joseph H. 

1955. Seeding rangelands in Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, and western 

Wyoming. Agric. Handb. No. 71. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 73 p.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 68

Artificial seeding of immense areas of deteriorated rangeland in the Intermountain 

region (Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, and western Wyoming) now offers a major 

and direct means of vastly increasing forage production and controlling erosion. 

This is possible because of up-to-date information developed by more than 20 years 

of experimental planting. In this period nearly 1,000 species and species variants 

from all parts of the globe have been tested. Trials with these have been conducted 

on the most important problem areas by many field methods. It is conservatively 

estimated that a total area of approximately 20 million acres of deteriorated rangeland in the Intermountain region should be revegetated, either for forage production 

or for watershed protection and soil stabilization. Increased forage production on 

this seedable area will help to obtain the lighter use necessary for improving an 

additional 100 million acres of damaged range, which can be rehabilitated more 

economically through proper management. Advantages from successfully seeded 

ranges are immediate and direct to livestock operators. Experience on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

139. Plummer, A. Perry, Hurd, Richard M.; Pearse, C. K. 1943. How to reseed 

Utah range lands. Res. Pap. 1. Ogden, Utah: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 22 p.

Artificial reseeding can increase the forage production on many acres of Utah 

rangelands. Careful planting by proper yet inexpensive methods will produce good 

stands on many valley and foothill lands now covered with annual weeds, cheatgrass, saltgrass, or brush, and on mountain lands in the mountain brush, aspen, and 

subalpine zones. Important principles for determining where reseeding should be 

done, what species and methods should be used, and how the reseeded stand should 

be grazed to keep it productive, have been developed from recent research studies. 

Experience on the Great Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

140. Plummer, A. Perry; Jensen, Robert L. 1956. Job completion report for artificial revegetation studies on big-game ranges in Utah, W-82-R-1, A PittmanRobertson Project, March 1, 1955 – March 1, 1956. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah 

Department of Fish and Game. 28 p.

Slightly more than one year has elapsed since the game forage project was organized in Utah under a cooperative agreement between the Utah State Department 

of Fish and Game and the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Nearly all effort has been on 

winter ranges. Great emphasis has been placed here because the wellbeing of the 

State’s greatest wildlife resource rests on this habitat or meeting place of mountain 

and lowland, characterized by pigmy forest, brush, and open ground. It is also 

characterized by great diversity of slope and soil. Great emphasis has been placed 

on finding adapted plants. To do so, 30 to 36 species consisting of nursery stock, 

wildings (native root cuttings and transplants), and stem cuttings were established 

in three test sites including one on the Great Basin Experimental Range.
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141. Plummer, A. Perry; Jensen, Robert L.; Stapley, Homer. 1957. Job completion 

report for game forage revegetation project, W-82-R-2, A Pittman-Robertson 

Project, March 1, 1956 – February 28, 1957. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah 

Department of Fish and Game. 128 p.

This ongoing research project, drawing in part from activities in the Great Basin 

Experimental Range, has as its objectives (1) determination of the desirable species 

of forage, native and introduced that can be grown on various sites with emphasis 

on species that have shown promise through previous research; (2) determination 

of how to recognize sites to which various species are adapted; (3) determination 

of conditions that are favorable to germination of seeds and to establishment by 

vegetative propagation; (4) determination of methods of preparing sites for planting; 

(5) determination of suitable planting and propagation techniques; (6) determination of methods of protecting seeds and seedlings from rodent, bird, and insect 

depredations, and from other adverse environmental factors; and (7) formulation 

of practical recommendations for restoring game forage species on these ranges. 

Experience on the Great Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

142. Plummer, A. Perry; Jensen, Robert L.; Stapley, Homer. 1957. Range revegetation. Utah Fish and Game Magazine 13(6): 8-9.

Utah, particularly, its browse ranges, offers fascinating areas for discovering the 

plants to fill important requirements for range revegetation. Testing sites around the 

state and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range are providing valuable 

insights. Utah includes a wide diversity of site conditions, from the standpoint of 

competition, soil, erosion, and elevation to provide establishment opportunities for 

revegetation plant materials from nature and from selection practices. The plant 

materials available include exotic species that are being tested for adaptation as 

well as many native plant species. There is good prospect that investigation of natives will give new insight and a better approach to forage improvement that will 

lead to better sustained production on wildlands.

143. Plummer, A. Perry; Jensen, Robert L.; Stapley, Homer. 1958. Job completion 

report for game forage revegetation project, W-82-R-3, A Pittman-Robertson 

Project, March 1, 1957 – February, 1958. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Department of Fish and Game. 175 p.

Emphasis in this report is on winter deer range and has drawn information and 

results, in part, from the Great Basin Experimental Range. Concentration has been 

on the juniper-pinyon belt, a type that covers more than one-fourth of the state and 

is a vital component of the winter range for big game. Primary concern is with 

adaptation of suitable shrubs for planting these areas, although increasing time is 

being devoted to other phases, and particularly to methods of planting and effects 

of juniper-pinyon tree removal on improvement of natural and seeded understory. 

Removal or thinning of this overstory of pigmy forest appears to usually be an 

essential aspect to improvement of the understory cover where it is depleted and 

severely suppressed. Several new shrubs have been included in transplant trials with 
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nursery stock or wildings. Of these, black sagebrush looks promising, particularly 

for establishment on severe sites. Tatarian honeysuckle appears the most outstanding in adaptation over a period of three years to the broad variation in sites. Close 

rivals are Russian olive, Siberian peashrub, western sandcherry, and big sagebrush.

144. Plummer, A. Perry; Jorgensen, Kent R. 1978. Harvesting, cleaning, and 

storing seed of western shrubs. In: Conference & workshop proceedings; 1978 October, Western Forest Nursery Council and Intermountain 

Nurseryman’s Combined Nurseyman’s conference and seed processing 

workshop, Eureka, CA: D-65-D-75.

This review briefly relates what is being done to harvest and clean shrub seeds to 

make them available for wildland areas, and to point out some of the future needs 

for this class of plants. Cleaning and storing are important parts of handling the 

seeds and making them available. Compared with harvesting and cleaning and 

getting seeds ready to plant, storage is less demanding but is still a pertinent aspect 

and must be done properly to keep good seeds available. Experience on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range was integral to this report.

145. Plummer, A. Perry; Stapley, Homer D. 1960. Research on game forage 

restoration in Utah. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-ninth annual conference 

of Western Association of State Game and Fish Commissioners; 1959 June 

29-30, July 1; Portland, OR.

Need for improvement of many Utah game ranges has long been recognized. Since 

this project was begun, it has been determined that numerous problems can be 

solved in the near term. Pilot plantings have yielded information that will help in 

designing and implementing larger plantings. Recent conclusions from pilot plantings give great encouragement about what can be accomplished by revegetation on 

Utah game ranges. To develop the groundwork, it will require earnest research. The 

nature of this investigation requires intensive hard work and the courage to experiment freely. The project is organized in six phases with objectives of determining 

(1) adapted plant species; (2) suitable planting sites; (3) conditions favorable to 

germination; (4) effective methods of planting and propagation; (5) ways of protecting seeds and young plants for animal predation; and (6) practical procedures 

for restoring game ranges. Experience on the Great Basin Experimental Range 

was integral to this report.

146. Plummer, A. Perry; Stapley, Homer D.; Christensen, Donald R. 1959. Job 

completion report for game forage revegetation project, W-82-R-4, A PittmanRobertson Project, March 1, 1958 – February 28, 1959. Salt Lake City, UT: 

Utah Department of Fish and Game. 25 p.

In this first 4 years of the project, attention has been concentrated on fall, winter, and 

spring ranges (referred to hereafter as winter ranges), all of which cover essentially 

the same land. While game habitat on summer ranges also needs improvement, 

the problems on these higher ranges are small in comparison to those of restoring 
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the winter ranges where big game in Utah must live more than 6 months out of 

each year. Action on restoration of summer ranges must be held in abeyance until 

major problems for the winter ranges are solved. Experience on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range was integral to this report.

147. Plummer, A. Perry; Stewart, George. 1944. Seeding grass on deteriorated 

aspen range. Res. Pap. 11. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 6 p.

The herbaceous undercover on much of the aspen range in the Intermountain region 

is badly deteriorated. These naturally highly productive areas, when revegetated, 

can contribute greatly towards a much-needed supply of range forage. One of the 

major obstacles to successful seeding has been the difficulty of getting the seeds 

covered with soil since both standing and fallen trees interfere with the use of drills, 

harrows, or other machinery. In the search for methods to overcome this difficulty, 

it was found that for open aspen stands the covering of seeds is unnecessary when 

the right precautions are taken in other phases of planting. When seeds are broadcast 

shortly before, during, or soon after leaf fall, the leaves form a mat that conserves 

the surface soil moisture long enough for young seedlings to establish. Fourteen 

species (bearded wheatgrass, mountain bromegrass, blue wildrye, tall oatgrass, 

orchardgrass, slender wheatgrass, mountain lupine, smooth bromegrass, Letterman 

needlegrass, showy goldeneye, Canada wildrye, meadow fescue, big bluegrass, and 

Kentucky bluegrass) were broadcast on four plots, 10 x 14 feet, prior to leaf fall 

and immediately after leaf fall in 1941 and 1942 in the Great Basin Experimental 

Range, Manti National Forest. The results of this ongoing study tentatively indicate that seeding under aspen without covering the seeds is an effective means of 

establishing understory species.

148. Prevedel, David A.; McArthur, E. Durant; Johnson, Curtis M. 2005. Beginnings of range management: an anthology of the Sampson-Ellison photo 

plots (1913-2003) and a short history of the Great Basin Experiment Station. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-154. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 60 p.

High-elevation watersheds on the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah were severely 

overgrazed in the late 1800s, resulting in catastrophic flooding and mudflows 

through adjacent communities. Affected citizens petitioned the Federal government to establish a Forest Reserve (1902), and the Transfer Act of 1905 established 

the Manti National Forest. The Great Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental 

Range), a forerunner of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, 

was created in 1911 within this area to study the influence of rangeland vegetation 

on erosion and floods. This publication contains a collection of 12 recurring sets 

of photographs that started in 1913 on these depleted high-elevation rangelands. 

The sites were re-photographed in the 1940s, 1972, 1990, and 2003. It is also a 

tribute to two men who pioneered the science of range management—Arthur W. 

Sampson and Lincoln Ellison. As Directors of the Experiment Station, they initiated 
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and maintained the early photo sites and study plots. It was with these photograph 

records and study plots that many of the interpretations and guidelines for the 

management of high-elevation watersheds were developed. After 90 years, plant 

community changes on these high-elevation watersheds have led to a vegetation 

composition significantly different than the original condition. New plant communities have reached thresholds where yearly vegetative composition appears 

to be climate driven. Many of the higher elevation areas remain in unsatisfactory 

watershed health with active erosion.

149. Price, Raymond. 1938. Artificial reseeding on oak-brush range in central 

Utah. Circular 458. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture.19 p.

Artificial reseeding trials were conducted by the Great Basin Branch of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) 

at three different elevational experimental areas on a typical oak-brush range in 

central Utah. The experimental plots were sown during the period 1928 to 1931 and 

the last observations reported were made in the fall of 1935. Crested wheatgrass 

(Agropyron cristatum), smooth brome (Bromus inermis), and mountain brome 

(B. carinatus) produced good stands at the lower, middle, and upper experimental 

areas of the oak-brush range. Crested wheatgrass plants were more vigorous at 

the two lower areas and smooth brome and mountain brome plants increased in 

vigor with increases in elevation. Slender wheatgrass (Agropyron pauciflorum) 

produced good stands at the middle area, the only place it was sown. White sweetclover (Melilotus alba,) and yellow sweetclover (M. officinalis) produced poor to 

no stands at all areas, although both species maintained some plants in swales or 

low areas where soil and moisture conditions were above average. The best stands 

on all plantings were obtained by broadcasting seed on plowed furrows, spaced 

approximately 3 feet apart and covering by use of a brush drag, at a cost of $6 per 

acre exclusive of the cost of the seed. Some fair to good stands of grasses were 

obtained by broadcasting seed on unprepared ground and by broadcasting seed on 

unprepared ground followed by trampling by sheep, at costs of 65 cents and 80 cents 

per acre, respectively, exclusive of the cost of the seed. A few tests were made by 

broadcasting seed on plowed furrows with no further treatment, at a cost of $4.50 

per acre, exclusive of cost of seed, and by broadcasting seed on snow. During a 

period of 7 years the grazing capacity of plots reseeded to grasses by sowing seed 

on plowed furrows and covering by use of a brush drag, in a heavy sagebrush cover 

type at the lower experimental area, was increased over that of the open grazed 

unseeded plots from 367 to 933 percent, depending upon the species sown. Similar 

data showed increases of from 71 to 129 percent in an oak brush-sagebrush cover 

type at the upper area. Increases of 57 percent were noted at the middle area from 

plots reseeded to grasses by broadcasting and trampling by sheep. Some of the increase was due to increase of the native vegetation resulting in part from restricted 

livestock grazing and in part from cultivation accompanying the sowing treatments. 

Practically equally good stands were obtained from both spring and fall sowings 

when precipitation following planting was normal or above. However, fall sowings 

are recommended for similar oak-brush areas, since precipitation is more likely 

to be assured during early spring when the seedlings are becoming established. 
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Some degree of soil preparation followed by some means of covering the seed is 

necessary if successful reseeding is to be assured on sites where soil conditions are 

average or below in depth and texture on similar oak-brush ranges is indicated by 

the success of the species sown on plowed furrows and covered. The justification 

of the expense involved in artificial reseeding operations for extensive range use 

is dependent on the demand for the restoration of a vegetational cover, the degree 

of soil depletion, the extent of depletion of the native plant cover, and the facilities 

available. Additional research in reseeding is necessary (1) to determine the species 

ecologically adapted to specific range soil types; (2) to determine the possibilities of 

developing new strains by plant breeding; and (3) to develop practicable methods 

for extensive range application.

150. Price, Raymond; Evans, Robert B. 1937. Climate of the west front of the 

Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. Monthly Weather Review. 65(8): 291-301.

Climatic data presented in this study were collected during the 20-year period, 

1914-1934, within the four main vegetational zones, designated as piñon-juniper, 

oakbrush, aspen-fir, and spruce-fir, ranging in elevation from 5,575 feet to 

10,100 feet, in the Great Basin Experimental Range on the west front of the Wasatch 

Plateau in central Utah. Observations were made with standard meteorological 

equipment. Data collected and summarized include precipitation and atmospheric 

temperatures in the four vegetation zones. Precipitation and atmospheric temperatures of the area vary widely between vegetation zones, owing to differences of 

elevation and topography. Total annual precipitation varies from 11.70 inches in 

the piñon-juniper zone near the valley floor, to 29.48 inches in the aspen-fir zone 

near the middle of the plateau front, and 28.01 inches in the spruce-fir zone at the 

summit. Of these totals, 45 percent, 70 percent, and 80 percent of precipitation, 

respectively, is received during the winter season, November 1 to May 1, in the 

form of snow. Summer thunderstorms are interspersed with rainless periods that 

occur during the main growing season and have extended for 158 days, and longer, 

between occurrences of 0.50 inch or more precipitation. The trend of precipitation 

for the 34-year period, 1901 to 1934, inclusive, at the piñon-juniper zone shows 

considerable periodic variation characterized by above- and below-normal precipitation. Temperatures as high as 101°F. have been recorded in the piñon-juniper zone 

and as low as –30 °F in the oak-brush and aspen-fir zones. The growing season 

within the area is extremely short, the frost-free period being only 90 days in the 

oakbrush, 87 days in the aspen-fir, and 80 days in the spruce-fir zones.

151. Reynolds, Robert V. R. 1911. Grazing and floods: a study of conditions in the 

Manti National Forest, Utah. Bulletin 91. Washington, DC: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service. 16 p.

This report is responsible in part for the establishment of what eventually became 

the Great Basin Experimental Range. Heavy precipitation, steep slopes, and a 

comparatively scanty forest cover all tend to favor the occurrence of floods in 

the streams flowing from the Manti National Forest. This tendency was formerly 

counteracted to a great extent by an abundant ground cover of shrubs and grasses, 
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which delayed the run-off and prevented erosion. Previous to 1888 there is no record 

of serious floods in this region. Heavy grazing by horses, cattle, and especially by 

sheep resulted, however, in the almost complete destruction of this cover. Since 

1888, floods of great violence and destructiveness have been common, and it is 

estimated that they have caused a total loss of approximately $225,000. Upon the 

creation of the Manti National Forest in 1903 prompt action was taken to prevent 

further damage to the range from overgrazing. Since 1903 no sheep have been 

allowed on the west side of the divide. Manti Canyon was still further protected by 

excluding all stock from an area of 8,830 acres on the uplands from 1904 to 1909. 

Since then a small number of drifting cattle and horses have been allowed on the 

area. As a result of this protection, range conditions within Manti Canyon have 

steadily improved, and at the same time it has been less subject to floods. A striking 

example of this was in August, 1909, when severe floods occurred in Ephraim and 

Six Mile Canyons, from which stock has never been completely excluded, while 

Manti Canyon, lying between them, escaped entirely. Also, on September 18 and 19, 

1910, two successive floods caused damage of approximately $1,000 in Ephraim. 

No flood resulted at Manti, although the Manti watershed is nearly twice as great 

in extent as that which drains through Ephraim. At the request of members of the 

community, steps have now been taken to restrict grazing in the Forest still further. 

There can be no reasonable doubt that the torrents that have devastated this region 

within the last 20 years have been caused primarily by overgrazing, and that they 

can be largely controlled, if not entirely eliminated, by a restoration of the natural 

protective cover of shrubs and grasses.

152. Sampson, Arthur W. 1913. Scientific 

range management. National Wool 

Grower 3(12): 7-9.

Salient points for restocking a depleted 

range: (1) Repeated removal of the forage 

in the spring of the year seriously weakens the plant. Premature grazing should 

be discontinued as a general practice. 

(2) Moderate grazing after seed maturity 

in no way interferes with the herbage production and seed crop and stirring of the 

soil through trampling is highly essential in 

securing reproduction. Grazing after seed 

maturity therefore should be practiced in 

the case of lands in need of reseeding. (3) 

The range should be grazed moderately after a seedling stand has been secured and 

no stock should be allowed on the land except late in the autumn until the young 

plants are firmly established. (4) The amount of range that may be set aside for 

autumn grazing will be determined by the time of seed maturity and amount of 

forage required for the stock to complete the season. (5) After the first area selected 

has been thoroughly reseeded it may be grazed relatively early in the season and 

another set aside for autumn grazing. This system of alternate grazing should be 

Arthur Sampson
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continued at all times in order to maintain the vigor of the vegetation. Observations 

and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions 

presented in this report.

153. Sampson, Arthur W. 1914. Distribution and functions of range plants. National 

Wool Grower 4(12): 20-23.

For convenience in classifying grazing lands in a broad way, it is recommended 

that an “Ecological” classification of the range be considered in management that 

has to do with (1) the way plants are associated together in similar soils, and why 

some require one set of soil and moisture conditions and others quite different 

conditions; (2) the character and functions of the organs both below and above 

ground of vascular or higher plants such as grasses ; and (3) because of similarity 

in appearance of the leaves and habit of growth of grasses and grass-like plants 

but those two plant types can be distinguished from one another. Observations and 

research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions 

presented in this report.

154. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. Bluegrasses with a discussion of chemical 

analysis. National Wool Grower (6): 23-25.

The group of bluegrasses known to botanists as Poa, belongs to the largest and most 

famous grass family or tribe that embraces the well-known fescues and bromes. All 

told there are as many as 140 different kinds of bluegrasses distributed throughout 

the world. In the United States there are about 75 different kinds. Three of these 

are annuals, but all the others are perennials. With but few exceptions the many 

native blue grasses, as well as those that have been domesticated, are palatable 

to all classes of stock during practically all seasons in the year. In many parts of 

the West they furnish more feed of the first quality than any other plant. In some 

localities, however, they occur rather sparsely, but are grazed with much relish. 

On the Manti National Forest, extensive grass reseeding experiments of Kentucky 

bluegrass has given unusually good results on the high summer pasturelands of the 

Great Basin Experimental Range at 10,000 feet in elevation.

155. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. Artificial reseeding of range lands. National Wool 

Grower 6(11): 23-25.

The success or failure of artificial seeding (as opposed to the seeding of native 

species) is chiefly determined by (1) the kinds of plants seeded; (2) the time in the 

season that seed is scattered; (3) the thoroughness with which the seed is planted 

and (4) the character of the lands selected for seeding. The U.S. Forest Service has 

experimented with the comparative suitability of some 15 of the most promising 

kinds of grasses and clovers in attempting to reseed various overgrazed Forest 

ranges including the Great Basin Experimental Range. The time in the year seeds 

are scattered appears to have a good deal to do with the stand obtained, the vigor 

of the plants, and their ability to withstand drought during the first year of growth. 

Autumn is the most satisfactory time to sow, the spring coming second, summer 

third, while winter is the least satisfactory. The reason why fall seeding gives better 
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results than sowing in the spring is that a much better root system is developed. 

Observations and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to 

the conclusions presented in this report.

156. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. The brome grasses. National Wool Grower 6(3): 

38-40.

There are on record about 100 different kinds of brome grasses. Of this number, 

some 40 occur in the United States, about 30 of which are found on western ranges 

in varying abundance. The greater number is valuable on the range and some 

are of the highest value as forage plants. Eighteen brome grasses are emigrants 

from Europe; some of these are regarded by farmers as weed pests, while others 

are held in high esteem for grazing and for hay. On the whole, brome grasses are 

highly valuable on account of the fine quality of hay they produce and the relish 

with which they are cropped on the range, both when green and after maturity. 

Observations and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to 

the conclusions presented in this report.

157. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. The fescue grasses. National Wool Grower 6(7): 

17-19.

The fescues can best be distinguished from the grasses with which they are sometimes confused in that they have abruptly pointed glumes or chaff surrounding the 

seed, the lower glume of each seed being one-nerved and the upper three-nerved. 

The plants are either annuals, growing but a single year, or perennials. They are 

usually tufted or bunched in habit of growth. There are in all about 100 different 

kinds of fescue grasses, approximately forty kinds being found in North America 

and many of these occur on western ranges. Mountain fescue (Festuca viridula) 

is a high value, deeply rooted, perennial bunch grass with erect stems 11⁄2 to 3 feet 

tall. Observations and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed 

to the conclusions presented in this report.

158. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. Poisonous range plants. National Wool Grower 

6(12): 25-27.

The importance of proper herding and adequate salting are the keys to the prevention of serious poisoning. Probably 90 per cent of the heavy sheep losses from 

poison occur when the animals are ravenously hungry following long drives or 

staying too long in one place. Again, if the animals are supplied with ample salt at 

all times their systems seem to be able to throw off the effect of poison much better 

than if the animals are salt hungry. Suitable salt troughs are, therefore, an important 

consideration. Poison is usually considered any substance when taken internally that 

acts in a noxious manner other than mechanical, either causing death or interfering 

more or less seriously with health. The specific alkaloids and other agents found in 

different poisonous plants vary widely both in their toxic effect on the animal and 

in their chemical and physical properties. Observations and research on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.
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159. Sampson, Arthur W. 1916. The stability of aspen as a type. Proceedings of 

the Society of American Foresters 11(1): 86-87.

Aspen is believed to be a temporary forest type that will be slowly but surely replaced by conifers. It has been repeatedly observed that while conifers can invade 

aspen, the aspen cannot invade conifer stands. Data is presented showing that subalpine fir in an aspen dominated stand grows much faster, nearly six times based on 

diameter growth, than aspen does. Observations and research on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

160. Sampson, Arthur W. 1917. Important range plants: their live history and forage value. Bulletin 545. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

63 p.

It is a well-established fact that the amount of moisture remaining in the soil when 

the plant wilts beyond recovery is determined by the physical structure of the 

substratum. The object in making the wilting coefficient determinations, then, is 

principally to show (1) that certain species occupy quite different soil types, and 

(2) that the soil types (textures) are widely contrasted as shown by the notable difference in the wilting coefficients for the various species. For example, mountain 

bunchgrass (Festuca viridula) does not wilt seriously in the soil in which it characteristically grows until the water content is reduced to between 7 and 9.5 percent. 

This plant is adapted to coarser and less rich soils than is mountain onion (Allium 

validum), for example, which is confined to exceptionally black, mealy soils, and 

which wilts beyond recovery when the soil moisture content drops to between 

14 and 16 percent. Owing to the relatively small amount of moist soil found in 

mountain rangelands, it is evident that a species like mountain onion would not 

occur nearly as abundantly as mountain bunch grass. As a means of comparing 

habitat requirements, the species are grouped in three classes: Class A, plants of 

high moisture requirement—those inhabiting saturated soils, such as open marshes, 

wet meadows and bogs; Class B, plants of medium moisture requirement—those 

inhabiting relatively heavy soils that are saturated during the early part of the season, 

but later contain a medium amount of moisture; and Class C, plants of low moisture 

requirement—those occurring in well-drained lands, open glades, and exposed 

situations. It will be observed that practically three-fourths of the most valuable 

forage species are dry-land plants. This fact is of high economic importance, since 

the major portion of the rangelands are well drained and afford conditions favorable 

only to plants that are comparatively drought resistant. It is noted that a few species 

fall under more than one head so far as concerns their habitat requirements—that 

is, they are not strictly confined to any one soil type. Such plants, however, do not 

afford nearly the amount of forage those do that are found generally in the more 

open habitat (usually referred to as drought-resistant plants) where the soil is not 

finely disintegrated, is less well supplied with organic material, and has a wilting 

coefficient notably lower. A relatively small proportion of the rangelands are wet 

throughout the growing season, while bogs, marshes, and the like almost invariably 

support a more luxuriant stand of vegetation than any other, the herbage usually 

lacks in two essentials—palatability and nutritiousness. Those who have observed 

stock as to their choice of forage have noticed that sheep avoid marshes and wet 
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habitats to a marked degree, cattle drift to the better drained lands for most of their 

feed, and horses, if unaccustomed to marsh vegetation, such, for example, as sedges 

and rushes, graze it eagerly for a couple of days, after which they will not remain 

on the succulent feed if any other is available. Campers and mountain workers 

have found that their pack and saddle animals cannot do the work when feeding on 

marsh and bog vegetation that they can on drier feed. Also, stockmen have found 

that fat made on succulent feeds is not of a solid character and in the case of long 

drives to market or of shipment shrinkage is abnormally heavy. Observations and 

research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions 

presented in this report.

161. Sampson, Arthur W. 1917. Succession as a factor in range management. 

Journal of Forestry 15(5): 593-596.

By succession is meant the establishment of plant species by a series of invasions 

in a given habitat causing the replacement of one set of plants by another. This 

alternation in the vegetative personnel is apparent when the natural conditions of 

the habitat have been disturbed either by physical or biotic forces. Where the vegetative cover has been interfered with more or less seriously, as is often the case 

on pasture and range lands, but where subsequently these disturbances have been 

eliminated or decreased in intensity, there is a tendency through successive invasions, for the vegetation gradually to become more like the original. The succession 

continues until the equilibrium is finally established between the environment and 

the vegetation that it supports. This vegetative state marks the ultimate, climax, or 

stable type and is quite in harmony with the world around. In general the stability 

of the vegetation cover of a pasture unit and the cropping of the herbage year after 

year are not particularly harmonious, though this will depend largely on the way 

in which the herbage is grazed. If, for instance, the leafage—the laboratory of the 

plant—is devoured each season at a time when the elaborated food material is 

needed for the proper development of the vegetation and for seed production, the 

effect of grazing may be reflected in various ways: (1) delay in the time at which 

growth begins in the spring; (2) decreased size and number of leaves; (3) fewer 

flower stalks coupled with later appearance of the stalks; (4) delayed seed maturity, limited seed production, and lowered vitality of the seed crop; and (5) low 

germination and limited establishment of seedling plants in the following spring. 

Hence the stability of the type is interfered with and the invasion and succession 

of transitory species made possible. Observations and research on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

162. Sampson, Arthur W. 1918. Climate and plant growth in certain vegetative 

associations. Bulletin 700. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

72 p.

The investigation reported here was conducted in the vicinity of the Great Basin 

Experimental Range located on the Wasatch Plateau on the Manti National Forest in central Utah. Here, from the foothills to the highest elevations, between 

altitudes of approximately 7,000 and 11,000 feet, four distinct plant associations 

occur. In the heart of each of these associations a type station was selected in 1913. 
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From 1913 to 1916 the more important environmental factors were recorded, and 

accordingly the climatic characteristics of each type are well known. The types 

recognized and their approximate altitudinal limits are sagebrush-rabbitbrush association, 5,200—6,500 feet; oak brush association, 6,500—7,800 feet; aspen-fir 

association, 7,500—9,500 feet; spruce-fir association, 9,000—11,000 feet. The 

investigations have been concerned chiefly with (1) recording and summarizing 

the meteorological data, and (2) determining the relation of certain potent weather 

factors to growth, water requirement, and certain other physiological functions of 

standard plants developed under different climatic conditions. Measurements of 

growth and certain other activities were recorded from time to time throughout the 

season. The plants used in each station were a pedigreed strain of Canadian field 

pea (Pisum arvense) known as the Kaiser variety, cultivated wheat (Triticum durum) 

known as Kubanka No. 1440, and mountain brome grass (Bromus marginatus) 

native to the Rocky Mountains. From the study here reported, it may be concluded 

that in this locality Kubanka wheat and Canadian field peas, and doubtless other 

agricultural crops, cannot be grown profitably at elevations exceeding about 8,000 

feet because of the lack of sufficient heat. Native forage plants are of high value in 

the pasturing of livestock in contrast to the failure of agricultural plants.

163. Sampson, Arthur W. 1918. The Great Basin Experiment Station. National 

Wool Grower 8(4): 19-21.

While there are six Forest Experiment Stations in existence, all of which are located in the West, the Great Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) in 

central Utah is an innovation in that it is the only one that represents the extensive 

grazing interests on our national forests. The Great Basin Experiment Station, the 

main building site of which is nestled in the rugged mountains at an elevation of 

8,700 feet, is located on the Manti National Forest, 8 miles (on an airline) east of 

Ephraim, Utah, in the heart of a great livestock region. Principal research activities 

of the Station will be poison plant eradication, natural reseeding, plants as indicators of range conditions, and management of eroded lands.

164. Sampson, Arthur W. 1919. Effect of grazing upon aspen reproduction. Bulletin No. 741. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 29 p.

Aspen, a tree of high commercial value on many national forests in the West, and 

on some of the farm woodlots and lands adjacent there to in the northeastern United 

States, is often reproduced with difficulty where the lands are made to serve the 

double purpose of timber and meat production. The leafage, young twigs, and 

branches of the reproduction are browsed with varying degrees of relish by both 

cattle and sheep. Sheep are responsible for severe damage to the reproduction, 

both as it occurs in standing timber and on clear cuttings. Cattle cause less damage. The injury and mortality chargeable to the presence of livestock is roughly 

proportional to the closeness to which the lands are grazed. On clear-cut lands, 

where the reproduction is conspicuous and the stand even, the annual mortality 

due to sheep grazing is exceedingly heavy. Only slight difference is recorded in 

extent and character of browsing either by sheep or by cattle on different height 
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classes of reproduction, so long as the total height growth of the sprouts has not 

passed the limit at which stock find the food accessible. In lands protected from 

grazing, aspen sprouts are produced only during the first two seasons after cutting. 

On grazed lands a considerable number of sprouts are sent up for three successive seasons following the removal of the timber. When logging is done on sheep 

range, or on a combination sheep and cattle range, the forthcoming reproduction 

will be destroyed almost to the last sprout if the areas are even moderately grazed 

by sheep during the first 3 years following the cutting. To avoid destruction of the 

young aspen cover, only three courses are open: (1) entire exclusion of grazing 

for three successive seasons following logging, (2) exceedingly light grazing by 

sheep, and (3) moderate grazing by cattle. Observations and research on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

165. Sampson, Arthur W. 1919. Plant succession in relation to range management. 

Bulletin No. 791. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 76 p.

The carrying capacity of a large portion of the millions of acres of western ranges 

has been materially decreased as a result of too early grazing, overstocking, and 

other faulty management. One of the most serious handicaps has been the lack of 

means of recognizing overgrazing in its early or incipient stages, which has carried with it inability to correct the factor causing the damage before the carrying 

capacity of the range was more or less seriously depleted. In deciding upon the 

lands especially in need of improvement in the past, stockmen and forest officers 

regulating grazing have relied chiefly on the general abundance and luxuriance 

of the forage supply and on the condition of the stock grazed. By these general 

observations, however, it is not possible to recognize overgrazing before a large 

proportion of the plants have been killed. The most rational and reliable way of 

recognizing the incipient destruction of the forage supply is to note the replacement of one type of plant cover by another, a phenomenon that is usually much 

in evidence on lands used for the grazing of livestock. In tracing the succession 

of plant life from the consolidated rock to a well-disintegrated, fertile soil several 

fairly distinct cover stages are recognized. These stages may be grouped as follows: (1) the algae-lichen type, the pioneer stage; (2) the lichen-moss type with 

its sparse stand of annual herbs, the transition stage; (3) the ruderal-weed type of 

cover of annual plants with a scattered stands of short-lived perennials, the first 

weed stage; (4) perennial herbs, chiefly weeds, the second-weed stage; and (5) the 

long-lived perennial grasses, known as the subclimax, or under some conditions, 

the climax type. In order to observe the principles of succession in the building up 

as well as in the deterioration of the range, special studies were initiated on the high 

summer range of the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. After a careful survey of the 

vegetation, four major consociations were recognized, namely, the wheatgrass, the 

porcupine-grass-yellow brush, the foxglove-sweet sage-yarrow, and the ruderal, 

early weed. The data in this bulletin justify the conclusion that the character of the 

native vegetation can be used as a reliable indicator of the condition of the range 

and of the effect of a given method of grazing of the plant cover. Observations and 

research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions 

presented in this report.
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166. Sampson, Arthur W. 1919. Suggestions for instruction in range management. 

Journal of Forestry 17(5): 523-545.

The advancement in forestry methods in this country during the past decade is very 

marked. That forest schools are deserving of much credit for this advancement 

requires no argument. However, one highly important phase of forestry business, 

namely, range and livestock management, has, up to the present time been all but 

overlooked. When one stops to consider that there is no other single activity on the 

national forests that exercises so profound and immediate an influence on the people 

of the communities adjacent to the forests as does range and livestock management, 

it is truly amazing that a thorough, ongoing course in this field of activity has not 

long since been included in the curricula of the leading forest schools. With the 

right balance in foundational training and with well-balanced technical courses, 

the range technician as well as the technical forester should prove his worth both 

in public and private work. Observations and research on the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

167. Sampson, Arthur W. 1920. Herding hints from the changing range. National 

Wool Grower 10(5): 21-22.

In this study two 10-acre areas on the Great Basin Experimental Range were 

selected having similar slope, exposure, and soil, but differing appreciably in the 

density of plant cover. On the area where the plant cover had been well opened 

up by destructive grazing as much as 50,000 pounds of air dry sediment has on 

several occasions been carried down by a single heavy rainstorm. The other area 

that had better cover was grazed in the same manner eroded but little. Careful soil 

tests have clearly shown that the plant nutrients in the soil are roughly in proportion to the extent of destruction of the vegetation and the degree of the erosion, 

the soil least eroded, of course, being the most fertile. Among other things, the 

soil tests show that the non-eroded soil contains an average of approximately four 

times more total organic matter, three times more total nitrogen, and several other 

elements of fertility in proportion, than eroded soil. Repeated use year after year 

of established bedgrounds and stock driveways provide examples of the higher 

destruction and more desirable types of plant life. For better conservation, these 

practices need to be modified.

168. Sampson, Arthur W. 1923. Our native broad-leaved forage plants. National 

Wool Grower 13(5); 17-19; 13(6): 15-17; 13(7): 25-28; 13(9): 28-31.

This series of review articles draws, in part, from the author’s experiences at the 

Great Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) and includes anecdotal 

experiences from that location as well as others. The use, distribution, and habitat 

of both forbs (herbaceous broad-leaved plants) and shrubs (woody broad-leaved 

plants) are reviewed. Important forbs from the borage, bunchflower, carrot, evening primrose, geranium, pea, sunflower, and valerian families are described and 

illustrated. For shrubs, the families thus treated are the buckthorn, heath, oak, rose, 

sunflower, and willow families.
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169. Sampson, Arthur W. 1923. Range and pasture management. New York: John 

Wiley & Sons, Inc. 421 p.

This textbook draws in part from the author’s experience at the Great Basin Station (Great Basin Experimental Range) and is divided into four parts. Part I, the 

grazing industry and range control includes chapters on the pasture lands and 

grazing control in the United States; national forest, State, and private grazing 

lands. Part II, pasture revegetation and forage maintenance presents chapters on 

reseeding western grazing lands to cultivated forage plants, natural reseeding and 

maintenance of native western pasture lands, improvement and management of 

farm pastures, recognizing and correcting declining forage yield, principal introduced forage grasses, and principal introduced non-grass-like forage herbs. Part III, 

range and pasture protection has chapters on the control of erosion on range and 

pasture, grazing on woodlands and its relation to the future timber supply, burning 

of pasture lands and its effects on forage production, stock-poisoning plants and 

their control, principal stock-poisoning plants, and poisonous and mechanically 

injurious plants of secondary or local importance. Part IV, pasture improvements 

and research methods chapters present information on the development of watering places for range and pasture stock, forage estimates as a basis for the rational 

use of grazing resources (grazing reconnaissance), grazing capacity and pasture 

inspection, research methods in range and pasture revegetation, and suggestions 

for instruction in pasture management and livestock production.

170. Sampson, Arthur W. 1924. Native American forage plants. New York: John 

Wiley & Sons, Inc. 435 p.

This textbook draws in part from the author’s experience at the Great Basin Station 

(Great Basin Experimental Range) and is divided into two parts. Part I, plant life of 

the pasture includes pasture forage and animal nutrition; how plants live, grow, and 

reproduce (applied plant physiology); environment of range and pasture plants and 

forces that influence them (applied plant ecology); classification, collection, and 

preservation of plant specimens (applied taxonomic botany). Part Two, important 

native forage plants—“all flesh is grass” presents information about important native forage grasses and the characters that describe them; wheatgrasses and barleygrasses (Hordeae); fescues, bluegrasses, and bromegrasses (Festuceae); oatgrasses 

(Avenae) and gramagrasses and buffalograss (Chlorideae); redtops, timothies, and 

needlegrasses (Agrostideae) and miscellaneous species; comparative forage-value 

classification of native pasture grasses; grasslike forage plants; leaves, flowers, and 

fruit of broad-leaved forage plants and the characters that describe them; plants 

of the pea and carrot families; plants of the sunflower, borage, and honeysuckle 

families; plants of the buttercup, rose, willow, buckthorn, figwort, huckleberry, and 

valerian families; plants of the goosefoot, beech, geranium, gooseberry, mallow, 

bunchflower, evening primrose, and apple families; comparative forage-value, 

classification of important genera of broad-leaved plants.

171. Sampson, Arthur W. 1928. Livestock husbandry on range and pasture. New 

York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 411 p.
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This textbook draws in part from the author’s experience at the Great Basin Station 

(Great Basin Experimental Range) and is divided into four parts. Part I, range history 

and livestock improvement provides information about the livestock industry, meat 

consumption, and prospective meat supply; and practical methods of improving 

domestic foraging animals. Part II, pasture husbandry of sheep and goats—leading breeds of fine-wooled and coarse-wooled sheep: discusses their adaptability to 

range and farm; leading breeds of medium-wooled sheep: their adaptability range 

and farm; judging the qualities of sheep; livestock handling in relation to seasonal 

plans of pasture use; raising sheep on the range: camp tending, herding, bedding, 

watering, and salting; raising sheep on the range: breeding, lambing, and docking; 

raising sheep on the farm; the wool crop and the wool grower; common diseases 

of sheep and their control; raising goats on the range and farm. Part III, pasture 

husbandry of beef cattle—leading breeds of beef cattle: discusses their adaptability 

to range and farm; judging the qualities of beef cattle; raising cattle on the range: 

the breeding herd, breeding practices, production of calves; raising cattle on the 

range: general handling, winter husbandry; raising cattle on the farm; common 

diseases of cattle and their control. Part IV, economics of pasture livestock—cost 

accounting and budgeting in livestock production; includes information about 

animals that prey on livestock and rodents that destroy forage crops; wild animal 

life and recreation areas: their relation to livestock production; reindeer production 

as a range industry.

172. Sampson, Arthur, W; Malmsten, Harry E. 1926. Grazing periods and forage 

production on the National Forests. Bulletin 1405. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture. 55 p.

To maintain the forage productivity of the range it is necessary to be able to determine (1) when the range is ready for grazing, (2) the intensity and frequency 

of grazing that may be allowed, (3) how to handle the stock, and (4) the natural 

revegetation of the range that may be relied on. Observations at the Great Basin 

Experimental Range indicate that the season of grazing should close when proper 

utilization of the old growth has been obtained and soon enough for the forage 

plants to make satisfactory new growth. The grazing seasons giving the best results 

in the central Wasatch region are: oakbrush, May 20 to June 9 and October 1 to 

October 15; aspen-fir, June 10 to July 9 and October 1 to October 15; and sprucefir, July 10 to September 30. To insure proper seasonal use, a thoroughly sound 

and practical grazing-management plan should be developed in accordance with 

the growth and development of the feed. Sheep, being under herding, can readily 

be confined to seasonal zones during the best period for use. Cattle ranges should 

be divided into distribution units so as to make practicable the control of the stock. 

The control, distribution, and movement of the number of cattle that can use each 

unit to best advantage is obtained by salting in accordance with definite plans, by 

riding, by drift fences, or by a combination of two or all of these. Improvement 

and maintenance of native pasture lands, the forage of which is composed largely 

of bunch grasses, is dependent on the periodical production of a fertile seed crop. 

Seed production of the more palatable forage plants is enhanced by avoiding early 

grazing and overgrazing, and effective control and distribution of stock. Deferred 
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and rotation grazing, which imply the withholding of part of the range from grazing until after seed maturity each year, have given conspicuous results in range 

reseeding. Experiments showed that range revegetation is accomplished by deferred 

grazing almost as well as protection yearlong from foraging animals.

173. Sampson, Arthur W.; Weyl, Leon H. 1918. Range preservation and its relation 

to erosion control on western grazing lands. Bulletin 675. Washington, DC: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. 35 p.

The maintenance of an effective vegetative cover may be accomplished by the following means: (1) avoidance of overgrazing; (2) avoidance of too early grazing; 

(3) deferred and rotation grazing; (4) artificial reseeding (in choice sites only); 

(5) proper control and distribution of stock. Where the depletion of the soil and 

the formation of long established gullies make thorough revegetation impossible, 

destructive floods and erosion may be controlled in the following ways: (1) total 

exclusion of stock; (2) terracing and planting; (3) construction of dams. Erratic 

run-off and erosion have been responsible for a great deal of damage on western 

ranges where the vegetative cover had previously been materially decreased or 

practically eliminated. Though the damage from erosion usually is measured 

merely by the injury caused to farmland and works of construction, the damage to 

the forest rangelands on which erosion occurs is often greater and shows itself in 

a decrease in carrying capacity of the lands. While topography, climate, and soil 

are the primary factors in determining erosion, the combination of these factors on 

the lands under consideration is such that erosion is slight where the native ground 

cover has not been greatly disturbed. The seriousness of the erosion, therefore, is 

largely determined by the extent to which the ground cover is maintained. Serious 

erosion on western rangelands is due chiefly to the destruction of the vegetation 

as a result of overgrazing and mismanagement of livestock. The sum of conditions 

favoring destructive run-off and erosion is most pronounced in the fan-shaped 

drainage basins of the spruce fir type (on the Great Basin Experimental Range of 

the Manti National Forest between 9,000 and 10,500 feet), where the ground cover 

is naturally rather sparse, where there is a characteristic sparseness of tree growth, 

and where the most desirable summer sheep ranges are located. To maintain an 

effective vegetative cover, overgrazing and too early cropping of the herbage must 

be avoided, deferred and rotation grazing should be applied, and stock should be 

properly controlled and distributed at all times in the season. In the case of incipient erosion, only slight changes in the use of the lands are generally necessary, 

and these changes do not necessarily imply even a temporary financial loss. Where 

erosion has had full play for a number of years, the reestablishment of the ground 

cover, even though grazing is discontinued, does not always afford adequate protection. In such instances, which fortunately are relatively rare in this country, a 

combination of terracing and planting or, in exceptional cases, the construction of 

dams is justified.
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174. Stevens, Richard. 2003. Historical summary: oldest watershed study in America, 

Wasatch Plateau, Utah, Great Basin Experiment Station. In: Keammerer, 

Warren R.; Redente, Edward F., editors. Proceedings of the 15th high altitude revegetation workshop; 2002 March 6-8; Fort Collins: CO. Information 

SeriesNo. 95. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, 

Colorado State University: 94-100.

Starting in 1912, Watersheds A and B, two adjoining depleted subalpine watersheds 

on the Great Basin Experimental Range at the head of Ephraim Canyon, Utah, have 

been under continuous study. Since 1920 Watershed A has been protected from 

grazing. This protection resulted in a rapid increase in plant cover, especially forbs, 

on all but the more depleted areas. Increase in plant cover has resulted in substantial 

reduction in runoff and sedimentation. On Watershed B, heavy grazing reduced 

ground cover and changed a fairly stable watershed to a serious flood-source area. 

Immediate control of summer runoff and sedimentation was achieved with disking, 

contour trenching, and seeding of grasses and leguminous forbs in 1952. Watershed 

stabilization can be much more rapidly accomplished using restoration techniques 

than long periods of nonuse.

175. Stevens, Richard; McArthur, E. Durant; Davis, James N. 1992. Reevaluation of vegetative cover changes, erosion, and sedimentation on two watersheds—1912-1983. In: Clary, Warren P.; McArthur, E. Durant; Bedunah, 

Don; Wambolt, Carl L., comps. Proceedings—symposium on ecology and 

management of riparian shrub communities; 1991 May 29-31; Sun Valley, 

ID. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-289. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station: 123-128.

Watersheds A and B, on two adjoining, depleted subalpine watersheds in the Great 

Basin Experimental Range at the head of Ephraim Canyon, Utah, have been under 

continuous study since 1912. Watershed A has been protected from grazing since 

1920. This protection resulted in a rapid increase in plant cover on all but the 

more depleted areas. Although Watershed A is still in marginal condition, increase 

in plant cover has resulted in substantial reduction in runoff and sedimentation. 

In Watershed B, heavy grazing reduced ground cover and changed a fairly stable 

watershed to a serious flood-source area. Immediate control of summer runoff and 

sedimentation was achieved with disking, contour trenching, and seeding of grasses 

and leguminous forbs. Watershed B would now support controlled livestock use 

without producing runoff and erosion. Watershed stabilization can be much more 

rapidly accomplished using restoration techniques than long periods of nonuse. 

Both systems have a place, depending on the urgency of restoration and management objectives.

176. Stevens, Richard; Plummer, A. Perry; Jensen, Chester E.; Giunta, Bruce C. 

1974. Site productivity classification for selected species on winter big game 

ranges of Utah. Res. Pap. INT-158. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 

24 p.
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Productivity of a mixture of four range grasses and big and black sagebrush was 

correlated with soil characteristics, topography, and precipitation at 21 sites considered representative of Utah’s juniper-piñion and sagebrush-grass types. The 

mathematical models developed provide site evaluation guides for use in range 

improvement programs. Charts give productivity potential in five broad groups. 

This research was performed, in part, on the Great Basin Experimental Range.

177. Stewart, George. 1940. Forest Service range research seminar. Journal of the 

American Society of Agronomy 32(3): 235-238.

In keeping with on-coming expansion in demand for adequate information regarding range forage and rangeland use and management, a conference of major 

interest was help July 10-22, 1939, at the Great Basin Branch of the Intermountain 

Forest and Range Experiment Station (Great Basin Experimental Range), near 

Ephraim, Utah, by the U.S. Forest Service, to take stock of objectives, plans, procedures, and techniques applicable to range research problems. The problems most 

carefully analyzed at the conference were those dealing with (1) the development of 

sound research programs based on regional and local problem analysis; (2)research 

methodology, including experimental design and statistical analysis; and (3) vegetation problems such as forage growth and production, vegetative changes, trends 

and conditions, utilization of the forage crop and artificial revegetation. Problems 

dealing with multiple rangeland uses, handling livestock on the range and animal 

nutrition were also included, as well as those pertaining to publications, recruiting personnel, cooperation with other research agencies, and the need for, and the 

means of accomplishing intelligent range extension education.

178. Stewart, George. 1945. Range reseeding and grazing use of reseeded lands in 

Utah. Proceedings of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters 22:10.

Two organized experimental tests are now under way: one at the Great Basin 

Experimental Range near Ephraim, Utah, where a crested wheatgrass field is being grazed by sheep, at three intensities and beginning at two different dates; and 

a second at Benmore, Utah, where 100-acre pastures of crested wheatgrass are being grazed by cattle, also testing the time and intensity of spring grazing. The first 

experiment is being conducted by the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment 

Station and the second by a four-way cooperation of the Soil Conservation Service, 

the Utah Experiment Station, the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the Intermountain 

Forest and Range Experiment Station. Both of these gazing experiments, if continued to completion, will yield valuable data and will be watched by all who are 

interested in this phase of agriculture.

179. Stewart, George. 1947. Increasing forage by range reseeding. National Wool 

Grower 37(1): 17-19.

Forage produced after reseeding, whether measured by the amount of forage 

grown or in sheep months of grazing obtained, has been in most case from 5 to 

15 times as great as the same ranges before reseeding. This was the case in comparisons between reseeded range and adjacent similar range not seeded at sites in 
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 87

Utah—near Ephraim, in Cedar Valley near Fairfield, and on Lost Creek near Richfield; in Idaho—near Dubois, on Raft River, and on Willow Creek about 35 miles 

southeast of Boise; and in Ruby Valley, Nevada. This research was performed, in 

part, at the Great Basin Experimental Range.

180. Stewart, George. 1949. Range reseeding by airplane compared with standard 

ground methods. Agronomy Journal 41(7): 283-288.

On most rangelands, reseeding by standard on-the-ground procedures developed 

from careful research has so far given much more dependable results than has 

airplane seeding, both in getting a stand and in obtaining good yields of forage. 

The yields from airplane seeding on sagebrush ranges have been found to be from 

50 to 150 pounds of air-dry forage per acre. On similar areas the yields obtained 

by recommended ground procedures have been from 300 to 3,000 pounds of airdry herbage, an amount 5 to 50 times as much as from airplane seeding. To insure 

successful growth of reseeded species in the arid western United States, all seeds 

need to be covered to a shallow, uniform depth. Seeding of rangelands by airplane 

is still in its exploratory stages, and undoubtedly many improvements in methods 

and techniques will be developed. Observations and research on the Great Basin 

Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

181. Stewart, George; Forsling, C. L. 1931. Surface runoff and erosion in relation 

to soil and plant cover on high grazing lands of central Utah. Journal of the 

American Society of Agronomy. 23: 815-832.

On the elevated grazing lands of the Great Basin Experimental Range of central 

Utah, surface run-off and the sediment carried have been studied since 1915. Two 

nearby experimental watersheds of approximately equal area, at an elevation of 

about 10,000 feet, and so located and equipped as to permit the measurement of 

the precipitation, the run-off water, and the sediment carried, differed widely in 

their plant cover. Roughly, 3 to 5 times as much total water ran off the area with 

the poorer plant cover.

182. Stewart, George; Plummer, A. Perry. 1947. Reseeding range lands by airplane 

in Utah. Proceedings of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters 24: 

35-39.

The rapidity of seeding by airplane, its comparatively low cost, the possibility of 

easily distributing seeds on areas with rough topography, and the lure of doing things 

in a spectacular manner have all aided in arousing considerable interest in the possibility of airplane seeding. There has been a strong demand for information on this 

subject. To meet this demand an investigation was planned to study the feasibility 

of using an airplane for rangeland reseeding. In September 1946, data were taken 

on the areas seeded by airplane on October 2-9, 1945, to determine how much of 

a stand had been obtained. Data were taken on 156 plots of 10 square feet each in 

meandering transects of three areas. No young plants were found on 61 plots. On 

the other plots the number of plants varied from less than 10 to more than 60 per 

plot. When the plots with no seedlings were included, the average number of 0.89 
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and 0.75 per square foot in the two aspen areas and 0.74 per square foot in the 

oakbrush area were obtained. Past experience has shown that a considerable part of 

the seeds broadcast by hand in similar conditions germinates in the second season 

as is borne out by the data collected in 1947. Of 298 plots used to sample the area 

in 1947, all except 29 included seeding plants, raising the average up to 1.09 plants 

per square foot in aspen and 0.90 in the oakbrush. The present number of around 

one plant per square foot will produce a fair to good stand of mature grass without 

further germination and further germination is expected so that the stand outlook 

is better than one plant per square foot. Observations and research on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

183. Stewart, George; Walker, R. H.; Price, Raymond. 1939. Reseeding range lands 

of the Intermountain region. Farmers’ Bulletin No. 1823. Washington, DC: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. 25 p.

Revegetating deteriorated rangelands by sowing adaptable, nutritious, and palatable grasses is vital for adequate forage production in the Intermountain region, for 

profitable livestock raising, and as a safeguard against flood and erosion damage. 

The effect of serious droughts, greatly aggravated by overstocking, has resulted 

in the replacement of valuable perennial grasses by annual weeds and grasses that 

have much less value as forage for livestock or for proper soil protection. The 

abandonment of unsuccessful submarginal croplands has also added greatly to the 

vast acreage of deteriorated but potentially productive rangelands of the region in 

need of revegetation. Proper guides and procedures for revegetating degraded ranges 

and abandoned dry farms by artificial reseeding are necessary to safeguard against 

costly pitfalls and to insure reasonable success. The procedures herein outlined are 

based on the experiences and research to date and should prove helpful to those 

administering rangelands and producing livestock in the region comprising Utah, 

Nevada, southern Idaho, and southwestern Wyoming, commonly referred to the 

Intermountain region. Observations and research on the Great Basin Experimental 

Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.

184. Tew, Ronald K. 1967. Soil moisture depletion by aspen in central Utah. Res. 

Note INT-73. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 8 p.

Aspect and elevation of site and age of vegetation affect the amount of soil moisture depleted by aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) during the growing season at 

the Great Basin Experimental Range in central Utah. Clones on west aspects used 

more soil moisture than those on either north- or south-facing slopes. Differences 

in elevation had little effect on the amount of soil moisture depleted by mature 

aspen, but sprout stands used significantly greater amounts of soil moisture on the 

lower elevation sites. As much as 5 inches of moisture was conserved in the upper 

6 feet of soil during the first season after aspen removal, but as sprout stand became 

reestablished, there was a decrease in these moisture savings.
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185. Tew, Ronald K. 1967. Soil moisture depletion by Gambel oak in central 

Utah. Res. Note INT-74. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 7 p.

Aspect and elevation of site and age of vegetation affect the amount of soil moisture 

depleted by Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii Nutt.) during the growing season at 

the Great Basin Experimental Range in central Utah. More soil moisture was lost 

at the higher elevation (7,900 feet) than at the lower (6,600 feet) on all aspects. A 

south-facing site at the higher elevation lost the most moisture, whereas one at the 

lower elevation lost the least. Most available soil moisture was depleted to a depth 

of 6 feet on all sites during seasons of normal rainfall. Removing oak and allowing 

regrowth of a vigorous sprout stand reduced soil moisture depletion nearly an inch 

during the year following cutting, but by the end of the third year, sprout stands 

were using up to an inch more soil moisture that mature stands.

186. Tippets, David; Anderson, Val Jo. 1991. Partnership preserves historic range 

research sites. Rangelands 13(3): 121-124.

A team of 109 volunteer workers from government agencies, universities, and 

other Institutions combined forces at the Great Basin Experimental Range east of 

Ephraim, Utah, on July 13-14, 1990, to preserve some of the oldest range research 

sites in the world. Starting in 1912, pioneer range ecologist Arthur W. Sampson 

built log exclosure fences to protect his study plots from domestic livestock grazing. 

After 78 years of deep snow and decay, Sampson’s fences had decayed to the point 

livestock could step across them and graze the study sites. Grazing study sites that 

had been protected for 78 years would mean destroying a tremendous accumulation 

of data about natural succession without grazing impact. New grazing-enclosures, 

replacing old fences designed to protect permanently located study sites from sheep 

and cattle were installed by teams of six- to eight workers using the same primitive skills and tools used to construct the first protective barriers 78 years earlier.

187. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1972. Auto tour Great Basin 

Experimental Range. GPO 781-170. Washington, DC: General Printing Office. 29 p.

This self-guiding tour provides assistance in exploring examples of research studies conducted and direction to points of interest along 10 miles over a 5,000-foot 

elevational gradient in the Great Basin Experimental Range.

188. Wagstaff, Fred J. 1983. Economic incentives for managing quaking aspen in 

the Mountain West and evaluating proposed improvements of public rangelands. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University. 40 p. Dissertation.

Thirty-one aspen stands in Ephraim Canyon, Utah were examined to determine to 

what degree conifer invasion was affecting the production of forage, wood fiber, 

and water. Data from these stands show clearly that conifer invasion reduces forage output and species diversity. When coupled with the results of other studies on 

water yield, the impact of conifer succession becomes clear. Values were assigned 
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to the forage, water, and wood fiber; and the benefit stream for each successional 

stage calculated on a present value basis. Allowing conifer to invade and dominate 

aspen sites reduced the present value by $147 per acre ($363/hectare). If all 4.5 million acres (2.5 million hectares) of aspen in the Rocky Mountains were allowed 

to become conifer, the loss would be $907 million. Observations and research on 

the Great Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in 

this report

189. Walker, Scott, C.; Mann, David K.; McArthur, E. Durant. 1996. Plant community changes over 54 years within the Great Basin Experimental Range, 

Manti-La Sal National Forest. In: Barrow, Jerry R.; McArthur, E. Durant; 

Sosebee, Ronald E.; Tausch, Robin J., comps. Proceedings: shrubland ecosystem dynamics in a changing environment; 1995 May 23-25; Las Cruces, NM. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-GTR-338. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station: 66-68.

Plant community changes and natural succession over time impact forage values, 

watershed quality, wildlife habitat, and ecosystem dynamics. Comparisons were 

made between a vegetation map of community types completed in 1937 by the U.S. 

Forest Service, and vegetation maps compiled in 1990 of the same areas by satellite 

imagery, and through 1991 aerial photo interpretation combined with ground truthing. 

The study area includes nearly all of the drainage of the Great Basin Experimental 

Range in Ephraim Canyon located in central Utah, which consists of 6,027 acres 

(2,439 ha). Elevation ranges from 6,600 to 10,400 feet (2,040 to 3,210 m). Vegetation types ranged from pinyon-juniper woodland through oakbrush, mountain 

shrub, aspen, conifer and subalpine herbland. The comparison showed significant 

plant community changes and successional trends over the 54-year period.

190. Warner, James H.; Harper, K. T. 1972. Understory characteristics related to 

site-quality for aspen in Utah. Brigham Young University Science Bulletin 

Biological Series 16(2): 1-20.

An analysis has been made of the basic ecology of aspen forests of the mountainous areas of Utah and northern Arizona. Forty-nine study areas have been 

examined in respect to density, height and age of the tree cover, tree reproduction, 

and composition and biomass production of the understory. A graphic model of 

interspecific associations among prevalent understory species has been prepared 

by a cluster-analysis procedure based on presence and absence of species in 1,225 

small quadrats (0.25 m2

) uniformly distributed among the 49 stands. The model 

separates species of relative stability as opposed to rapidly seral aspen forests. It 

also tends to separate species known to respond differently to grazing. An index 

for predicting site quality for aspen was devised using those species demonstrated 

to have indicator value. Sites having the best site quality for aspen also produce 

the greatest amount of understory forage. Prospects are good that the index can be 

refined to yield more precise estimates. Observations and research on the Great 

Basin Experimental Range contributed to the conclusions presented in this report.
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191. Welch, Bruce L.; McArthur, E. Durant. 1979. Variation in winter levels of 

crude protein among Artemisia tridentata subspecies grown in a uniform 

garden. Journal of Range Management 32(6): 467-469.

The midwinter crude protein content of Artemisia tridentata is under genetic control. Some accessions of A. tridentata grown under uniform conditions contained 

significantly higher levels of crude protein than others. Subspecies tridentata contained significantly higher levels of crude protein than subspecies vaseyana and 

wyomingensis. The accessions that contained the highest levels of crude protein 

have been reported to be the least palatable to mule deer. A superior strain of A. 

tridentata can be developed by combining the high protein-yielding accessions with 

accessions that are higher in palatability. One of the subspecies vaseyana accessions 

in the study, Petty Bishop’s Log, was from the Great Basin Experimental Range.
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Chronological Index

1911 – 1919: 009, 010, 075, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 

163, 164, 165, 166, 173

1920 – 1929: 011, 012, 013, 015, 025, 052, 053, 054, 055, 090, 091, 092, 167, 168, 169, 

170, 171, 172

1930 – 1939: 008, 014, 026, 031, 034, 035, 036, 056, 057, 058, 068, 104, 106, 115, 116, 

149, 150, 181, 183

1940 – 1949: 006, 007, 027, 028, 032, 038, 039, 040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 049, 059, 062, 

094, 105, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 139, 147, 177, 178, 179, 180, 182

1950 – 1959: 003, 020, 023, 033, 045, 046, 048, 050, 051, 060, 061, 063, 073, 074, 095, 

096, 107, 119, 126, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 146

1960 – 1969: 021, 047, 076, 077, 078, 093, 108, 109, 120, 127, 128, 133, 134, 145, 184, 185,

1970 – 1979: 002, 016, 019, 022, 079, 080, 100, 110, 129, 130, 131, 132, 135, 144, 176, 

187, 190, 191

1980 – 1989: 004, 029, 066, 067, 103, 111, 188

1990 – 1999: 005, 017, 018, 030, 064, 088, 089, 097, 101, 102, 114, 175, 186, 189

2000 – 2012: 001, 024, 037, 065, 069, 070, 071, 072, 081, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087, 

098, 099, 112, 113, 117, 118, 148, 174

Publication Type Index

Journal Article: 003, 006, 007, 009, 010, 011, 013, 015, 016, 017, 020, 021, 022, 023, 

024, 025, 026, 027, 028, 029, 030, 032, 034, 035, 036, 038, 039, 040, 042, 043, 

044, 045, 047, 048, 051, 052, 053, 054, 055, 057, 060, 061, 062, 063, 065, 068, 

069, 078, 080, 088, 089, 090, 091, 094, 095, 096, 097, 100, 103, 106, 107, 108, 

109, 115, 116, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 130, 137, 142, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 

156, 157, 158, 159, 161, 163, 166, 167, 168, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 186, 191

Book: 005, 064, 070, 081, 113, 117, 118, 169, 170, 171

Book Chapter: 044, 071, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087, 127, 132

Symposium Proceedings: 033, 046, 066, 098, 102, 114, 131, 135, 144, 145, 174, 175, 189

Federal Agency Research Paper, Circular, Bulletin, leaflet, General Technical Report, 

Other Report: 001, 008, 012, 014, 018, 019, 031, 037, 049, 050, 056, 058, 072, 

074, 075, 077, 079, 092, 093, 099, 101, 104, 105, 110, 111, 112, 119, 120, 122, 

128, 129, 136, 138, 139, 147, 148, 149, 151, 160, 162, 164, 165, 172, 173, 176, 

176, 183, 184, 185, 187

University Report: 190

State Agency Report: 133, 134, 140, 141, 143, 146
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 93

Dissertation (PhD): 041, 188

Thesis (MS): 002, 059, 067, 073, 076

Subject Matter Index

Community Ecology: 015, 021, 041, 045, 051, 093, 111, 162, 189

Disturbance (Grazing) Ecology: 044, 047, 048, 063, 075, 076, 088, 164

Fire Ecology: 024, 072

Historical and Site Description: 001, 004, 005, 064, 070, 071, 079, 080, 081, 082, 083, 

084, 085, 086, 087, 097, 098, 099, 101, 102, 112, 117, 118, 148, 150, 163, 186, 187

Livestock Management: 052, 053, 055, 158, 167, 171

Mammal Ecology: 003

Methodology: 038, 062, 106, 107, 115, 116, 144, 180

Plant Autoecology: 002, 009, 012, 016, 029, 030, 073, 074, 137, 159, 188, 190

Plant Physiology: 010, 017, 020, 022, 061, 068, 078, 091, 104, 105, 191

Plant Taxonomy or Status: 011, 019, 103, 154, 156,157, 160, 168

Range Ecology and Range Management: 007, 023, 028, 031, 039, 042, 046, 065, 114, 

119, 121, 152, 153, 161, 165, 166, 169, 170, 172, 179

Research Needs Assessment: 025, 027, 037, 123, 177

Revegetation and Restoration Ecology: 018, 043, 058, 059, 060, 069, 092, 100, 113, 

120, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 

139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 149, 155, 178, 182, 183

Site Evaluation and Species Performance: 014, 176

Soil Biology and Ecology: 013, 040, 089, 090, 184, 185

Watershed Ecology: 006, 008, 026, 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 049, 050, 054, 056, 057, 

066, 067, 077, 094, 095, 096, 108, 109, 110, 151, 173, 174, 175, 181

Author Index5

Adams MB: 001

Alder GM: 002

Aldous CM: 003,(048)

5

Numbers refer to bibliographic entries; non-senior authorship is listed in parentheses.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 94

Antrei A: 004, 005

Anderson, V: (186)

Bailey RW: 006, 007, 008, (050)

Baker FS: 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 015, (092)

Barnes BV: 016

Baskin CC: 017

Baskin JM: (017)

Blaisdell JP: (120)

Blauer AC: 018, 019

Bleak AT: 020, 021, 022, 023

Brown PM: 024, (072)

Campbell RB Jr.: (111)

Chapline WR: 025, 026, 027

Christensen DR: (133, 134, 135, 146)

Clark I: 028

Clary WP: 029, 030

Costello DF: 031

Craddock GW: 32, 33

Croft AR: 034, 035, 036, (049, 050)

Davis JN: 037, (175)

Dayton WA: (058)

Doty RD: (077)

Ellison L: 038, 039, 040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048, 049, 050, 051, (095)

Evans RB: (150)

Fenley JM: (136)

Fetherolf NJ: (015)

Forsling CL: 052, 053, 054, 055, 056, 057, 058 (181)

Freeman DC: (103)

Frischknecht NC: 059, 060, 061, 062, 063, (137)

Geary EA: 064

Gill RA: 065
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 95

Giunta BC: (019, 100, 176)

Godfrey AE: 066

Grah OJ: 067

Griswold SM: 068

Hall M: 069, 070, 071

Hancock NV: (135)

Harper KT: (190)

Heyerdahl, EK: (024), 072

Houston WR: (051), 073, 074

Hull AC Jr: (121, 138)

Hurd RM: (139)

Jardine JT: 075

Jensen CE: (176)

Jensen RL: (140, 141, 142, 143)

Johnson CM: (148)

Johnson HB: 076

Johnston RS: 077

Jorgensen KR: (144)

Julander O: 078

Keck WM: 079, 080

Kitchen SG: (024, 072)

Klade RJ: 081, 082, 083, 084, 085, 086, 087

Klemmendson JO: 088, 089

Korstian CF: 014, 015), 090, 091, 092

Laycock WA: 93

Loughry L: (1)

Lull, HW: 094, 095, 096

Malsten HE: (172)

Mann DK: (189)

Marston RB: (036)

McArthur ED: (018, 019), 097, 098, 099, 100, 101, 102, 103, (148, 175, 189, 191)
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 96

McCarty EC: 104, 105

McGinnies WG: 106

McGinnies WJ: 107

Meeuwig RO: 108, 109, 110

Meuggler, WF: 111

Meyer SE: (017)

Monsen SB: (101, 102), 112, 113, 114, (133, 134)

Nelson EW: 115, 116

Nelson SD: (018)

Norman LE: 117, 118

Orr HK: (096), 119

Parker KW: 120

Pearce CK: 121, 122, (139)

Pechanec JF: 123

Plaugher L: (1)

Plummer AP: (019, 023, 062, 063, 100, 122), 124,125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 

133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, (176, 182)

Pope CL: (103)

Prevedel DA: 148

Price R: (031, 105), 149, 150, (183)

Reynolds RVR: 151

Robertson JH: (138)

Sampson A: 152, 153, 154, 155, 156. 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 

167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173

Savage DA: (122)

Shaw NL: (113)

Stapley H: (141, 142, 143, 145, 146)

Stevens R: (018, 019, 102, 113, 114, 135), 174, 175, 176

Stewart G: (138, 147), 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183

Tew RK: (077), 184, 185

Tiedemann AR: (029, 030, 088, 089)
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Tippets D: 186

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 187

Wagstaff FJ: 188

Walker RH: (183)

Walker SC: (114), 189

Warner JH: 190

Weber MH: (024, 072)

Welch BL: 191

Weyl LH: (173)
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-305WWW. 2013 98

The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information 

and technology to improve management, protection, and use of the 

forests and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of 

the National Forest managers, Federal and State agencies, public and 

private organizations, academic institutions, industry, and individuals. 

Studies accelerate solutions to problems involving ecosystems, range, 

forests, water, recreation, fire, resource inventory, land reclamation, 

community sustainability, forest engineering technology, multiple use 

economics, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest insects and diseases. 

Studies are conducted cooperatively, and applications may be found 

worldwide. For more information, please visit the RMRS web site at: 

www.fs.fed.us/rmrs.

Station Headquarters

Rocky Mountain Research Station

240 W Prospect Road

Fort Collins, CO 80526

(970) 498-1100

Research Locations

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its 

customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the bases of race, 

color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and 

where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, 

sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any 

public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment 

or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all 

prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.) For 

more information, please visit the USDA web site at: www.usda.gov and click on 

the Non-Discrimination Statement link at the bottom of the page.

Reno, Nevada

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Rapid City, South Dakota

Logan, Utah

Ogden, Utah

Provo, Utah

Flagstaff, Arizona

Fort Collins, Colorado

Boise, Idaho

Moscow, Idaho

Bozeman, Montana

Missoula, Montana

To learn more about RMRS publications or search our online titles:

www.fs.fed.us/rm/publications

www.treesearch.fs.fed.us

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