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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Kuchler Potential Natural Vegetation Type > Palmetto Prairie
 

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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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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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