VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Elymus trachycaulus | Slender Wheatgrass 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Slender wheatgrass is grazed by sage grouse, deer, elk, moose, bighorn
sheep, mountain goat, pronghorn, various rodents, and all classes of
livestock.  The seeds are eaten by various seed predators [15,16,47].


PALATABILITY : 
Slender wheatgrass is among the preferred foods of elk and bighorn sheep
[23,50], and is palatable to all classes of livestock [25,47,55].  The
palatability of slender wheatgrass in several western states is rated as
follows [15,17]:

                                  CA       MT       ND       UT       

         cattle                  good     good     good     good
         sheep                   good     fair     fair     good
         horses                  good     good     fair     good     
         pronghorn               ----     ----     ----     poor 
         elk                     ----     ----     ----     good  
         mule deer               good     ----     ----     fair               
         small mammals           ----     ----     ----     fair   
         small nongame birds     ----     fair     ----     fair    
         upland game birds       ----     poor     ----     fair   
         waterfowl               ----     fair     ----     poor 


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Slender wheatgrass is rated as good in energy value and poor in protein
value [15].  The nutritional composition of flowering slender wheatgrass
in the United States is as follows [39]:

         Percent Composition         Percent Digestible Protein          
         ash            9.70               cattle    2.1
         crude fiber   36.40               goats     1.1
         protein        4.90               horses    1.7
         calcium        0.31               rabbits   2.5
         magnesium      0.36               sheep     1.6
         phosphorus     0.08
         sulfur         0.12      


COVER VALUE : 
Slender wheatgrass provides hiding and thermal cover for songbirds,
upland game birds, waterfowl, and small mammals.  It is used as nesting
cover by mallard, Northern pintail, and blue-winged teal ducks [19].
The degree to which it provides environmental protection for wildlife in
several western states is rated as follows [15]:

                                 MT       UT       WY
         small mammals          fair     good     ----                  
         small nongame birds    fair     ----     ----    
         upland game birds      good     fair     good
         waterfowl              good     poor     ----


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Slenderwheatgrass is widely used for revegetating disturbed lands.  It
has been used for rehabilitating mine spoils, oil-drilling sites,
livestock ranges, wildlife habitat, and watershed areas [10,12,48].
There are three commercially-available slender cultivars commonly used
for rehabilitation:  'Primar', 'Revenue', and 'San Luis'.  'Primar' and
'Revenue' are recommended for use in the Great Plains [14].  'Revenue'
is greatly used for rangeland revegetation.  It has high seed and forage
yields, and is tolerant of saline and alkaline soils [34].  'Primar' is
also used for rangeland revegetation and has been used in subalpine
range improvement.  It was successfully established in a severely
overgrazed subalpine meadow (elev: 7,400 ft. [2,256] m) in central
Nevada [16].  'San Luis' is recommended for use in Colorado, and is
noted for good seedling vigor, robustness, tall growth, and long life
[34].  Slender wheatgrass will establish in moist or dryland sites.
Allison [1] has detailed seeding methods.

Slender wheatgrass is used for rehabilitating alpine meadows and
other high elevation habitats [9].  Cultivars are not recommended for
this use; seed must be collected from alpine sites in late summer or
early fall.  Fall plantings yield higher rate of germination at high
elevation than do spring plantings.  Surface mulching is recommended
[8].

Slender wheatgrass has been used in a variety of watershed projects,
including reclaiming logged-over watershed areas, improvement of
subalpine watershed, and streambank and streambottom improvement
[30,48,60].  A watershed rehabilitation project in New Mexico increased
available water run-off by 40 percent following seeding with slender
wheatgrass and other grasses [13].

Slender wheatgrass is planted using a seed mix selected for the
particular rehabilitative purpose.  The mix consists of other grasses,
and may contain forb seed as well.  Possible companion seeds are too
numerous to list.  A selected few which have been used successfully
include western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), intermediate wheatgrass
(Thinopyrum intermedium), blue wildrye (Elymus glaucus spp. glaucus),
tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), and Parry clover (Trifolium
parryi).  Slender wheatgrass seedlings have also been successfully
transplanted onto disturbed sites [11].

Heavy metal and hydrocarbon tolerances:  Slender wheatgrass does well
in soils containing high levels of boron (10-20 p/m).  Some research
suggests that this species tolerates heavy and lead bitumen-contaminated
soils.  It did not establish well, however, on alkaline tailings in
Quebec that were contaminated by unidentified heavy metals [23].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Slender wheatgrass is cultivated on haylands of the northern Great Plains [55].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Range:  Slender wheatgrass will maintain vigor indefinitely under
moderate grazing [47].  It is a decreaser on overgrazed cattle ranges
because its short rootstocks cannot withstand heavy grazing as well as
species with well-developed rhizomes [25,59].  Ellison [17] reported
slender wheatgrass as scarce on overgrazed cattle ranges of the Wasatch
Plateau, Utah, but plentiful in areas inaccessable to livestock.
Slender wheatgrass has increased on some mountain ranges following heavy
use by sheep, however, because sheep will only lightly graze the leaves
of coarser ecotypes [7].  Slender wheatgrass cover at five different
levels of livestock grazing in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba
was as follows [53]:

                        Mean Foliage Cover (%)                          
                         slight use     11.0
                         light use       8.7
                         moderate use   16.9
                         heavy use      28.5
                         severe use      2.0 

Slender wheatgrass populations decrease when livestock are allowed to
graze during flowering and seed set [42].

Slender wheatgrass has been used to inhibit the highly unpalatable Rocky
Mountain iris (Iris missouriensis) on ranges overtaken by the iris [16].

Related categories for Species: Elymus trachycaulus | Slender Wheatgrass