KUCHLER TYPE VALUE AND USE
KUCHLER TYPE: Palmetto prairie



FORESTRY VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


RANGE VALUES : 
Palmetto prairie has a major use as cattle range [12,39,49].  Fults [15]
reported that current management practice in pine flatwoods and palmetto
prairie, consisting of yearlong moderate to heavy grazing, coupled with
annual or biennial winter prescribed fire, has resulted in an increase
in brushy cover.  Preferred forage species include bluestems, panicums,
and paspalums.  Biomass production ranged from 4,000 to 6,000 pounds per
acre (4,500-6,750 kg/ha) on flatwoods in southern Florida [15].
Flatwoods ranges in excellent condition may have forage production in
excess of 7,500 pounds per acre (8,438 kg/ha), with a minimum of
pineland threeawn.  Flatwoods ranges in poor condition, with little
creeping bluestem (Andropogon stolonifera), will produce 1,500 pounds
per acre (1,688 kg/ac) of mostly pineland threeawn forage.  Pineland
threeawn increases in cover where more palatable decreasers have been
overgrazed [49].


WILDLIFE VALUES : 
Deer browse saw-palmetto in the fall.  Saw-palmetto flowers provide
nectar for honeybees [20].  On pine flatwoods in Florida white-tailed
deer diets included a variety of woody twigs, leaves, oak mast, palmetto
berries, forbs, and grasses [19].  Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and
northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) prefer panicums; yelloweyed
grass (Xyris spp.) is a staple food for wild turkey and a "stuffing
food" for northern bobwhite [44].  Deer use saw-palmetto in palmetto
prairie for hiding cover [15].


OTHER VALUES : 
Palmetto prairie reduces runoff and increases infiltration rates and
thus reduces erosion.  Recreational use of palmetto prairie includes
hunting and fishing [6].


MANAGEMENT CONCERNS : 
Palmetto prairie occurs only in southern peninsular Florida, and has
been ranked by the Nature Conservancy as globally threatened [55].
Approximately 3 million acres (1.2 million ha) of pine flatwoods
(probably including some areas classifiable as palmetto prairie) in
Florida have been converted to "tame grass" pasture (plowed and planted
to forage grasses such as bahia grass [Paspalum notatum]) [15].  Areas
of palmetto prairie are being converted to tree plantations.  For
example, Moore and Swindel [40] discussed site preparation techniques
designed to remove the existing palmetto prairie vegetation (pineland
threeawn, saw-palmetto, gallberry, fetterbush, staggerbush, and dwarf
live oak) to reduce competition in a eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.)
plantation.  Both of their site preparation techniques combined burning
with mechanical treatment to completely eliminate shrubs and severely
reduce pineland threeawn and other grasses.  The control site was burned
only [40].  Mechanical disturbance usually severely reduces or
eliminates pineland threeawn.  Even though pineland threeawn was
probably the most abundant grass of the extensive pine flatwoods of the
Southeast, it could become rare if trends continue.  In Florida,
pineland threeawn is difficult to re-establish once it has been
eliminated from a site, as seed is produced only after spring or summer
fire [52].  Summer burning is being attempted on some public lands as
part of a management plan (mimicking the presettlement fire regime) at
least partly aimed at preserving pineland threeawn as a dominant
herb-layer species [11].

Extensive areas of palmetto prairie formerly occurred in central
Florida, but have been reduced by agriculture and by phosphate mining
activities [6].  Some palmetto prairie has been replaced after mining.
Palmetto prairie may be initially more expensive to establish than
improved pasture but this may be offset by reduced maintenance costs.
Callahan and others [6] reported on the costs and success of palmetto
prairie establishment.  They used donor material from a degraded
palmetto prairie, and appear not to have planted saw-palmetto.  The
grass mixture was deficient in pineland threeawn, so it is diffucult to
say that palmetto prairie (sensu Kuchler) was actually established.
Results of the revegetation effort were assessed 2 years after
completion.  There were 176 plant species established on the site.
Cover of typical palmetto prairie species (pineland threeawn,
broomsedges, carpetgrasses, saw-palmetto, oaks, staggerbush, fetterbush,
and blueberries) was low.  Panicums, goldenrods, sedges (Cyperus spp.),
and bahia grass were dominant in the topsoiled sections.  The site
continues to be monitored [6,7].

In some areas, palmetto prairie acreage has been increased by land use
practices.  Most current palmetto prairie is in use for cattle range.
Heavy grazing of pine flatwoods, coupled with very short burning
rotations (1-3 years), serves to perpetuate existing palmetto prairie by
suppressing pine establishment.  Pine flatwoods conversion to palmetto
prairie occurs as mature pines die or are removed and not replaced [57].

Livestock use is compatible with deer production since deer and cattle
diets do not overlap very much.  Deer herds tend to follow cattle (at
proper stocking densities on rotational grazing systems), due to
increased forage availability [15].

On cattle ranges, saw-palmetto can become a nuisance species.  It is
thought to be kept in check by fire.  However, winter fires may actually
cause a vegetative increase in saw-palmetto cover beyond levels that
were maintained by natural fire cycles [31].  More complete removal of
saw-palmetto can be accomplished by mechanical treatments such as
chopping, disking or plowing [12,15,39].  The greatest reduction of
saw-palmetto occurs if chopping is accomplished in dry weather.
Chopping results in increased cover of bluestems, panicums, paspalums,
and goobergrass (Amphicarpum muhlenbergianum), which are higher quality
forage than pineland threeawn and saw-palmetto [39].  Depressions
created by stump removal are usually wetter than surrounding soil, and
are prime sites for melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) invasion, which
is a severe problem in some areas [57].

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