VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Festuca rubra | Red Fescue 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 



IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Red fescue is a valuable forage grass [74].

Deer and moose used a mine site in west-central Alberta that was seeded
in 1979 with a mix that included red fescue.  Fecal fragment analysis
showed that between 1981 and 1985, red fescue averaged 1.6 percent of
deer fecal mass and 0.2 percent of moose fecal mass.  Seasonal
differences in red fescue use were not determined [66].

Roosevelt elk grazed red fescue on a meadow in the redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens) belt on the northwestern coast of California from November
1959 through October 1960.  Red fescue cover was 0.8 percent; elk
utilized red fescue 0.5 percent of the time they were eating [35].

Lesser snow geese graze red fescue in the upper zone of saltmarsh
plant communities at La Perouse Bay, Manitoba, on the Hudson Bay coast.
Extensive grubbing of patches has led to formation of open areas covered
by peat where formerly the red fescue community was extensive [40].


PALATABILITY : 
In Alberta red fescue palatability is rated fair for livestock [71].  In
Utah it is rated good for cattle and horses and fair for sheep [17].

Sheep on alpine range ate a diet composed of a large number of species.
Red fescue and sheep fescue (Festuca ovina) were the preferred grass
species, constituting 13 percent of diets [75].

In the Intermountain region red fescue is only moderately palatable
during the summer, but because it maintains green leaves after frost it
is a preferred grass in the fall [61].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
In Alberta red fescue leaves retain their nutritive value even after
freeze-up, providing grazing until snow is too deep for accessibility.
The quality of mature standing red fescue is adequate for beef cows on
maintenance rations [71].

In Utah food values are listed as good for elk, fair for mule deer,
small nongame birds, and small mammals, and poor for pronghorns and
upland game birds.  Energy value is rated fair [17].

In vitro digestibility of cellulose and mean digestible protein at each
stage of growth (leaf, heading, seed ripe, cured, and weathered) is
reported for red fescue growing in southwestern Alberta.  Compared to
the other grasses measured, red fescue maintained a relatively high
protein content throughout the year.  It had very low cellulose
digestibility at the weathered stage of growth [8].


COVER VALUE : 
In Utah red fescue cover is rated fair for small nongame birds and small
mammals [17].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Fed fescue may colonize disturbed areas naturally.  It was found on
abandoned coal mine sites in foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Alberta.
The mine spoil heaps had a variety of soils, ranging from silts and
clays to gravelly sands mixed with coal.  Red fescue was rare to
abundant [68].  Red fescue established naturally on an abandoned road at
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.  The road was fertilized with phosphorus 2 years
after abandonment.  Fifteen years after abandonment, red fescue cover
was 0.6 percent on unfertilized areas and 1.7 percent on fertilized
areas [57].

In areas with temperate climate, red fescue is used to prevent erosion
on irrigation ditches [5], in channel banks on waterways [29], and along
highway and railway rights-of-way [71].  It is useful for holding
hillsides and highway slopes [74].  It is also planted for soil
conservation in the western states [20].

Rhizomatous red fescue is recommended for seeding quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides) openings and subalpine mountain areas in the Intermountain
region.  Red fescue makes a heavy litter and is a good soil builder
[61].

Red fescue was planted with a mixture of other grass and legume species
that were not native to the site in a disturbed mixed-grass prairie in
southwestern Manitoba.  The seeded plots did not produce higher standing
crop or below-ground biomass than did unseeded plots.  Prairie
recovering without seeding produced higher cover and greater abundance
of native species than did seeded prairie [89].

Red fescue has been seeded on disturbed subalpine sites in Colorado and
Montana.  In Climax, Colorado, red fescue was seeded on sites from
10,350 to 13,500 feet (3,155-4,115 m) elevation that had been disturbed
by mining, logging, sheep grazing, and railroad construction.  Twenty
grass species were originally seeded; red fescue is one of seven that
were successful [10].  Red fescue was used to seed subalpine areas
disturbed by ski run construction in Montana.  Several years after
seeding it was present in four of six areas and was dominant in one; it
had persisted for at least 10 years in some areas [6].

Red fescue has been used to revegetate disturbed sites in northern
Canada [55,90].  In Alaska it has been used in Denali National Park and
Preserve [16], the Alaska Range [19], the central Brooks Range [15], and
other areas [49,57].  Seeded red fescue may decline within one to two
decades of establishment [15,19,81].  Populations and cultivars best
adapted for revegetation in specific regions have been identified
[49,55,81].  Seeded red fescue may suppress or delay recovery of other
native plants [15].

Red fescue is sensitive to sulfur dioxide air pollution.  At Smoking
Hills on the east coast of Cape Bathurst in the Northwest Territories,
red fescue occurred at sites which were not fumigated by sulfur dioxide,
sulfuric acid mists, or aerosols.  It occurred in trace amounts in areas
of moderate pollution, and was absent from severely polluted sites [24].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Creeping red fescue is used extensively for turf [29,71].

Red fescue can provide good ground cover.  Because of limited top growth
and heavy understory growth some cultivars are used as a cover crop in
orchards [88].

Red fescue can cause hayfever [17].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Red fescue is a decreaser in response to excessive grazing [84] or site
disturbance [43].

Rhizomatous red fescue is tolerant of close grazing, but is a decreaser
when overgrazed.  If it is grazed at correct stocking rates and given
adequate time to recover, it can maintain or even increase in yield over
the years [71].

Many cultivars of red fescue are available commercially [20].

On the Beartooth Plateau, Montana, red fescue invaded undisturbed alpine
vegetation from heavily disturbed roadcuts where it had been introduced.
Its frequency at alpine sites was 40 percent [86].

Red fescue root leachates have been shown to inhibit root and shoot
growth of shrubs [15].

Related categories for Species: Festuca rubra | Red Fescue