EFFECTIVENESS OF DIFFERENT SAGEBRUSH REMOVAL TREATMENT METHODS IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO

Beginning in 2004, the BLM, NM State Game and Fish Department, and others have administered various vegetation treatments, which involve the removal of sagebrush to enhance wildlife habitat in Northern Taos County, NM. The BLM Taos Field Office (TaFO) has implemented these types of treatments on over 13,000 acres, on the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument (RGdNM). The TaFO has prescribed treatments in order to address homogenous sagebrush stands, which are considered as degraded habitat because of the lack herbaceous vegetation for grazing. To improve grazing conditions, which are detrimental for Mule Deer, Rocky Mountain Elk, and livestock, treatments have included shaving, mowing, discing, herbicide, and broadcast prescribed fire to remove sagebrush. To date, no rigorous statistical analysis of treatment effectiveness has been completed. To address these issues Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) strategy has been implemented on the RGdNM (Mackinnon et al. 2011, Toevs et al. 2011). The AIM strategy gathers quantitative data randomly stratified across the landscape. In addition to assessing its own treatments with AIM, TaFO will partner with a private landowner who has been involved in removing sagebrush via brush hogging to compare treatment results. Upon the completion of AIM plots in treatment areas, long term control plots will be established throughout the monument in all rangeland allotments. The AIM data will provide managers with Rangeland Health Indicators as well as information to process permit renewals. By using AIM plots, overall treatment effectiveness, as well as a comparative analysis between treatments and control sites will be analyzed. The data collected in this project, will be used in future land management decisions, range permit renewals, and entered into a geo data base to guide future treatments on the RGdNM.