• IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE
• PALATABILITY
• NUTRITIONAL VALUE
• COVER VALUE
• VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES
• OTHER USES AND VALUES
• MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:

Onespike oatgrass is not referred to as an important forage grass in available literature. Livestock graze the succulent basal herbage of onespike oatgrass in California, but the plant is not abundant enough to be considered outstanding forage [31]. The succulent bases are also very attractive to rodents, especially pocket gophers [33]. In the Blue Mountains of Oregon, onespike oatgrass is considered a secondary species, but produces valuable forage on harsh scabland sites not suitable to bluebunch wheatgrass [33].

PALATABILITY:

The palatability of onespike oatgrass to livestock and wildlife species has been rated as follows [8]:

                        MT       UT        WY
Cattle                 Fair     Good      Fair
Domestic sheep         Fair     Fair      Fair
Horses                 Good     Good      Fair
Pronghorn              ----     Poor      Poor
Elk                    Poor     Good      Good  
Mule deer              Poor     Fair      Poor
White-tailed deer      ----     ----      Poor
Small mammals          ----     Fair      ----
Small nongame birds    ----     Poor      ----
Upland game birds      ----     Fair      ----
Waterfowl              ----     Poor      ----

NUTRITIONAL VALUE:

Compared to other grasses, onespike oatgrass is rated 'fair' in energy value and 'poor' in protein value [8].

COVER VALUE:

The degree to which onespike oatgrass provides cover for wildlife species is as follows [8]:

                      UT          WY
Pronghorn             Poor        Poor
Elk                   Poor        Poor
Mule deer             Poor        Poor
White-tailed deer     ----        Poor
Small mammals         Fair        Fair     
Small nongame birds   Poor        Fair    
Upland game birds     Poor        Fair    
Waterfowl             Poor        Poor    

VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:

Onespike oatgrass has low to moderate potential for erosion control and short-term to long-term revegetation projects [8]. In particular, low sagebrush/Sandberg bluegrass-onespike oatgrass plant associations in the Fremont National Forest of Oregon are usually found on very rocky soils typically saturated during winter and spring, making revegetation on these sites impractical [19]. The same information is reported for Sandberg bluegrass/onespike oatgrass associations in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest [22].

OTHER USES AND VALUES:

No entry

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

In western Montana, onespike oatgrass did not increase in biomass but appeared larger and more vigorous on sites where spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) had been controlled with herbicides [4].

Onespike oatgrass shows productive regrowth after fall rains, making it dependable fall forage on bluebunch wheatgrass sites in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. However, it is susceptible to damage from frost heaving, and is often winter-killed on exposed sites [33].

Onespike oatgrass response to grazing varies with location. It dominates ridgetop communities in the Blue Mountains, where severe overgrazing has basically eliminated deep-soil bunchgrasses because of reduced moisture retention [20]. Onespike oatgrass has responded as a 'decreaser' to grazing in Sandberg bluegrass scablands of the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington and in sagebrush/bunchgrass types within the central Oregon pumice zone [13,40]. Conversely, it is described as an 'increaser' on foothill and mountain grassland sites in Montana and the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming [30,37]. Volland [40] also refers to onespike oatgrass as a 'palatable increaser' on ponderosa pine/shrub/Idaho fescue sites within the central Oregon pumice zone.

Related categories for SPECIES: Danthonia unispicata | Onespike Oatgrass