VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Dichanthelium acuminatum | Woolly Panicum 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
NO-ENTRY


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Woolly panicum is useful as a soil stabilizer and for restoring degraded
areas [23].  However, in some locations it declines in importance after
a few years as other species increase in cover.

By 1976, woolly panicum was thriving along a section of highway in
Peoria, Illinois, that had been planted to prairie vegetation in
November 1966.  Prairie seeds had been broadcast over hard-packed clay
soil that had been loosened [5].

Prairie was reestablished at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Arkansas.
The original prairie had been turned to agricultural use.  The site was
plowed in early June 1975, and a seed mixture (not including woolly
panicum) was hand-broadcast on each plot.  Vegetation was sampled in
early fall of 1975 and in late spring and early fall for 4 years
thereafter.  Woolly panicum established in the fall of the first year
and persisted for the 5 years of the study.  However, it was prominent
only in the 2-year-old plots.  Seeded prairie grasses in the restoration
plots have increased, and other grasses including woolly panicum have
decreased.  Mean percent cover of woolly panicum on 1- to 5-year-old
plots based on spring (S) and fall (F) sampling was as follows [6]:

                         Plot Age in Years

     1            2              3              4              5
     F         S     F        S     F        S     F        S     F

    0.5       4.8   5.0      2.1   1.6      0.5   0.0      1.0   0.0

Woolly panicum was a component of 4-year-old and 8-year-old
reestablished prairies in southwestern Ohio [31].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
NO-ENTRY


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Woolly panicum does not respond uniformly to grazing.

In the Sierra Nevada in Placer County, California, woolly panicum was
present in meadows which were grazed May 30 to September 30 each year
from 1979 to 1986.  Utilization of meadow species averaged 61 percent
over the 10 years, but increased to more than 80 percent after 1985.
Woolly panicum increased from 0.8 to 2.1 percent relative cover over
that time [1].

In a 12-year study of grazing intensity in central Louisiana, the
frequency of several species, including woolly panicum, was greater on
ungrazed than on moderately or heavily grazed range.  However,
differences owing to grazing intensity were considered "small and
relatively unimportant" [11].

Related categories for Species: Dichanthelium acuminatum | Woolly Panicum