Animal community

Livestock Interpretations:
This site has limited value for livestock grazing, due to the low forage production. Shadscale is a valuable browse species, providing a source of palatable, nutritious forage for a wide variety of livestock. Shadscale provides good browse for domestic sheep. Shadscale leaves and seeds are an important component of domestic sheep and cattle winter diets. White bursage is an important browse species. Browsing pressure on white bursage is particularly heavy during years of low precipitation, when production of winter annuals is low. White bursage is of intermediate forage value. It is fair to good forage for horses and fair to poor for cattle and sheep. However, because there is often little other forage where white bursage grows, it is often highly valuable to browsing animals. The fruit of screwbean and honey mesquite is valuable forage for livestock. Cattle, horses, domestic sheep and goats, eat large quantities of the ripe fruit during summer and fall. Livestock do not consume the foliage to any great extent. Foliage consumption is high only during drought years, especially in the early spring when other forage is sparse. Screwbean and honey mesquite provides cover for large wildlife species and shade for livestock. Nevada ephedra is important winter range browse for domestic cattle, sheep and goats. Big galleta is considered a valuable forage plant for cattle and domestic sheep. Its coarse, rigid culms make it relatively resistant to heavy grazing and trampling. Indian ricegrass is highly palatable to all classes of livestock in both green and cured condition. It supplies a source of green feed before most other native grasses have produced much new growth. Alkali sacaton is a valuable forage species in arid and semiarid regions. Plants are tolerant to moderate grazing and can produce abundant herbage utilized by livestock.
Stocking rates vary over time depending upon season of use, climate variations, site, and previous and current management goals. A safe starting stocking rate is an estimated stocking rate that is fine tuned by the client by adaptive management through the year and from year to year.

Wildlife Interpretations:
Shadscale is a valuable browse species, providing a source of palatable, nutritious forage for a wide variety of wildlife particularly during spring and summer before the hardening of spiny twigs. It supplies browse, seed, and cover for birds, small mammals, rabbits, deer, and pronghorn antelope. White bursage is an important browse species for wildlife. The fruit of honey mesquite is valuable forage for wildlife. The fruit crop of honey mesquite is quite predictable, annually providing an abundant and nutritious food source for numerous wildlife species upon ripening in July and August. Honey mesquite seeds form an important part of the diet of mice, kangaroo rats, woodrats, chipmunks, ground squirrels, rock squirrels, cottontail, skunks, quail, doves, ravens, the black-tailed prairie dog, black-tailed jackrabbit, porcupine, raccoon, coyote, collared peccary, white-tailed deer, mule deer, wild turkey, and mallard. Mesquite browse is generally not a very important wildlife food source. Screwbean mesquite is important as cover and food to wildlife. Mule deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn browse Nevada ephedra, especially in spring and late summer when new growth is available. In southern Nevada, big galleta is heavily utilized by bighorn sheep. Mule deer utilize trace amounts of big galleta. Indian ricegrass is eaten by pronghorn in moderate amounts whenever available. A number of heteromyid rodents inhabiting desert rangelands show preference for seed of Indian ricegrass. Indian ricegrass is an important component of jackrabbit diets in spring and summer. Indian ricegrass seed provides food for many species of birds. Doves, for example, eat large amounts of shattered Indian ricegrass seed lying on the ground. The western salt desert shrub and grassland communities where alkali sacaton is common support an abundance of mule deer, pronghorn, carnivores, small mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles.

Hydrological functions

Runoff is medium. Permeability is slow. Hydrologic soil group is C.

Recreational uses

Aesthetic value is derived from the diverse floral and faunal composition and the colorful flowering of wild flowers and shrubs during the spring and early summer. This site offers rewarding opportunities to photographers and for nature study. This site is used for camping and hiking and has potential for upland and big game hunting.

Other products

Seeds of shadscale were used by Native Americans for bread and mush. White bursage is a host for sandfood, a parasitic plant with a sweet, succulent, subterranean flowerstalk. Sandfood was a valuable food supply for desert peoples. Mesquites were probably the most important wild plant staple of indigenous Southwest Native Americans. The pods were a very reliable food source because fruiting occurred even during drought years. Pods were collected in large quantities and stored in granary baskets on the roofs of houses or sheds. The beans were ground into flour which was used to prepare cakes and breads, the main staple of the diet. Various refreshing drinks were made from the pods. An alcoholic drink was sometimes prepared by allowing the juices of the pods to ferment. Flowers were eaten raw or roasted, formed into balls, and stored in pottery vessels. Native Americans used the wood for fuel as well as for weapons, tools, and construction. The wood is also used locally for small items, such as tool handles and trinkets. Native Americans used Nevada ephedra as a tea to treat stomach and kidney ailments. Indian ricegrass was traditionally eaten by some Native Americans. The Paiutes used the seed as a reserve food source.

Other information

White bursage may be used to revegetate disturbed sites in southwestern deserts. Mesquites are widely used as ornamental shade trees throughout the Southwest because they need little or no watering and can survive on limited rainfall. The wood can also be used for wood chips. Honey mesquite provides an excellent source of nectar for honey bees. Honey mesquite causes an allergic contact dermatitis in some humans. Nevada ephedra is useful for erosion control, and seedlings have been successfully planted onto reclaimed strip mines. Atrazine may be effective in controlling Nevada ephedra, though some plants can survive through crown sprouting. Irrigation may increase control by atrazine. Big galleta's clumped growth form stabilizes blowing sand. Alkali sacaton is one of the most commonly used species for seeding and stabilizing disturbed lands. Due to alkali sacaton’s salt tolerance, is recommended for native grass seeding on subirrigated saline sites.

Type locality

Other references

Fire Effects Information System (Online; http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/).

USDA-NRCS Plants Database (Online; http://www.plants.usda.gov).

Contributors

HA

Approval

Kendra Moseley, 12/18/2024

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