VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Phlox hoodii | Hood's Phlox 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Hood's phlox is difficult for cattle to graze due to its short height
[7].  It is generally unpalatable to all classes of livestock [12,42],
although sheep will graze it lightly [17,33].  It is also lightly grazed
by pronghorn and deer.  In south-central Saskatchewan, it provides 1
percent of the summer diet of pronghorn [16].


PALATABILITY : 
The palatability of Hood's phlox is several western states has been
rated as follows [17]:

                            CO     MT     ND     UT     WY
     cattle                poor   poor   poor   poor   poor
     sheep                 fair   poor   poor   fair   poor
     horses                poor   poor   poor   poor   poor
     pronghorn             ----   ----   poor   ----   good
     elk                   ----   poor   ----   poor   fair
     mule deer             ----   poor   poor   fair   good
     white-tailed deer     ----   poor   poor   ----   good
     small game mammals    ----   ----   ----   fair   fair
     upland game birds     ----   ----   ----   poor   fair
     waterfowl             ----   ----   ----   poor   poor
             


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Hood's phlox is poor in energy and protein value [17].


COVER VALUE : 
Hood's phlox provides poor cover for waterfowl and small nongame birds
and mammals [17].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
The low, creeping growth form of Hood's phlox aids in protection of
eroding soils [12].  It is not planted on disturbed rangelands, however,
due to low palatability.


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Hood's phlox is sometimes described as an increaser during drought and
under regimes of moderate to heavy grazing [10,45].  Severe overgrazing
of shortgrass prairie in southeastern Alberta has regressed some
communities to seral stages codominated by Hood's phlox, fringed
sagewort (Artemesia frigida), plains pricklypear (Opuntia polycantha),
and broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae) [10].  In Sweetwater County,
Wyoming, percentage frequency of Hood's phlox varied from 54 percent in
a relict big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)-mutton bluegrass (Poa
fendleriana) community inaccessible to livestock to 76 percent in
adjacent grazed rangeland [35].  Grazing response of Hood's phlox,
however, is difficult to typify.  Mueggler and Stewart [36] found its
response was widely inconsistent on Montana rangelands.  Additionally,
response varies accoring to management regime.  Laycock [33] found that
Hood's phlox increased in Idaho under moderate levels of both continuous
and spring grazing by sheep but decreased with heavy fall grazing.  In
southeastern Alberta, it increased with light rotational cattle grazing
but decreased under light continuous grazing [10].

Recovering rangelands usually exhibit a temporary increase of Hood's
phlox as a normal course of plant succession.  Thirty years following
relief from grazing, populations were doubled on a severely overgrazed
northern Nevada rangeland [40].  Similarly, Hood's phlox increased over
a 5-year period in Meagher County, Montana, when a former sheep range
was protected from grazing [45].  Hood's phlox also increases on
rangelands undergoing active rehabilitation.  An overgrazed
pinyon-juniper woodland near Ephriam, Utah, with an understory dominated
by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), was planted with crested wheatgrass
(Agropyron cristatum), intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium
ssp. intermedium), and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata).  Hood's phlox
increased from average densities of 31 plants per plot to 37 plants per
plot 2 years following grass seeding [15].  Recovery rate of the
degraded rangeland depends upon the degree of degradation and the
ecosystem involved, but populations of Hood's phlox will eventually
decline as rangeland trend moves upward.  In southeastern Idaho a big
sagebrush-bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) rangeland in poor
condition showed a gradual decline in Hood's phlox over a 10-year study
period when left ungrazed [24].

Pitting treatment may result in rapid lowering of populations.  A
degraded needle-and-thread community in northern Montana underwent a
reduction in Hood's phlox the first year following pitting [42].

Related categories for Species: Phlox hoodii | Hood's Phlox