VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Bearberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Bearberry browse is of moderate importance to bighorn sheep, mountain
goat, black-tailed deer, and white-tailed deer [9,142].  Bearberry is
important to moderately important browse for Rocky Mountain mule deer
[9,24,75].  Elk browse it on winter ranges in Alberta [148].  During
early spring in Montana, moose browse bearberry in snowfree areas near
trees on south and west aspects [133].

Since bearberry's low-quality fruit spoils slowly, it lasts through
winter and is available when other fruits are gone [134].  The fruits of
bearberry are eaten by songbirds, gamebirds, including five species of
grouse and wild turkey, deer, elk, and small mammals [49,89,134,148].
Black bear and grizzly bear eat bearberry fruits in the autumn, but
fruits are especially important to bears in the early spring
[55,83,84,148].  In Montana, grouse may be attracted to very recent
burns by fire-exposed bearberry fruit [68].

Hummingbirds take nectar from the flowers of bearberry and have been
observed to alight momentarily to probe low flowers [108].  


PALATABILITY : 
Bearberry is unpalatable to domestic livestock but relished by wildlife
[49].  It is palatable to white-tailed deer in the Black Hills of South
Dakota from fall to late spring [58].  Bearberry fruits are relished and
highly important to black bear in the Yukon [84].  The fruit is of
moderate importance to grizzly bear in Montana [83].  The degree of use
shown by livestock and wildlife species for bearberry is rated as
follows [30]:

                         CO      MT      UT      WY      ND
Cattle                  poor    poor    poor    poor    poor
Sheep                   poor    poor    poor    poor    poor
Horses                  poor    poor    poor    poor    poor
Pronghorn               ----    ----    poor    poor    poor
Elk                     fair    poor    poor    poor    ----
Mule deer               fair    fair    poor    fair    fair
White-tailed deer       ----    fair    ----    fair    fair
Small mammals           good    fair    good    good    
Small nongame birds     good    fair    fair    fair    
Upland game birds       good    fair    good    good    
Waterfowl               ----    ----    poor    poor    


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
The energy and protein values of bearberry browse are low [30].  Results
of a nutrient study in stands of sapling and pole-sized ponderosa pine
in the Black Hills of South Dakota showed no trends in the nutrients
sampled relative to stocking (shade) levels that ranged from 0 (0 m2/ha
basal area) to unthinned (40 m2/ha basal area) [124].  Production
decreases when crown cover exceeds 40 percent [105].  Average
percentages of the six nutrients studied for bearberry forage are given
below [124]:

Attribute                    Pole Stands              Sapling Stands
                          Mean  Standard Error     Mean  Standard Error
Crude Protein              5.5       0.1            5.7       0.1
Acid Detergent Fiber      25.8       0.6           26.8       0.1
Acid Detergent Lignin     12.6       0.3           13.3       0.2
Ash                        3.15      0.55           3.08      0.09
Calcium                    0.63      0.01           0.60      0.01
Phosphorus                 0.14      0.01           0.14      0.01

A similar nutrient study done previously in the Black Hills gave the
percent composition by season [45]:

Attribute               Oct. 1      Jan. 1     April 1     July 1   
Carotene (micrograms
 per gram)               18.67       10.86      31.97       38.10 
Moisture                 47.54       49.11      36.65       60.81
Ash                       1.93        2.01       2.27        1.66 
Crude Fat                 5.97        4.88       8.28        4.72 
Crude Fiber               9.00        8.29       9.18        6.22
Crude Protein             2.70        2.55       2.98        3.30
N-Free Extract           32.86       33.16      40.63       23.29 
Phosphorus                0.064       0.067      0.09        0.08
Calcium                   0.39        0.60       0.52        0.22
Iron (ppm)              270.75      309.28     236.51      173.70 
Manganese (ppm)          12.38       13.36      20.91       16.29 


COVER VALUE : 
Bearberry has little or no cover value for most game animals but may
have fair cover value for upland game birds in Colorado and Utah.  It
offers fair to good cover for small mammals and small nongame birds
[30].  


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Bearberry is very useful in erosion control plantings and attractive
along highway embankments [11,73,118,148].  It is recommended for
revegetation projects on well-drained soils in Alaska and moist to dry
sites in most of Alberta.  It is well suited to coarse-textured soils
that are low in nutrients.  Bearberry can be agressive on open sites and
may invade disturbed sites vegetatively [148].  Its potential is better
as a long-term revegetative species than as a short-term revegatative
species because its growth rate is moderate [30,148].  Growth is good on
gentle to steep sites [30].

Stem cuttings taken in the fall are described as the best method of
establishment [11,63,148].  Bearberry roots normally form
ectendomycorrhizae, but cuttings can be inoculated with endomycorrhizal
fungi prior to rooting [99].  Propagation by root cuttings has been done
successfully [63].  Good seed crops occur at 1- to 5-year intervals.
Seedling establishment is difficult and time consuming
[11,30,46,146,148].  Details on seed cleaning, stratification,
scarification, and germination as well as culture are well known and
described [11,46,142,146,148].  Seed is available commercially [148].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Smoking the leaves as a tobacco substitute is the most widely mentioned
human use of bearberry.  However, medical uses of bearberry leaves were
recognized by early Romans, Native Americans, and settlers [54,95,142].
At the present, bearberry leaves are used medicinally in Poland and many
other countries [46].  The most important medical use of the leaves is
for treating urinary tract disease.  They can also be used to make a
highly astringent wash and as a vasoconstrictor for the endometrium of
the uterus [46,54,79,95].  Some Native American tribes powdered the
leaves and applied them to sores [54].  For medical use the leaves are
best collected in the fall [46].

The berrylike drupes have dry, insipid, and tasteless flesh when raw but
are useful emergency food [53,54,142].  Native Americans fried them or
dried them and used them in pemmican [54].  The fruit is also used in
jelly, jam, and sauces [53].  In Scandinavia, bearberry is used
commercially to tan leather [79].

Bearberry is an attractive and excellent garden ground cover on sunny,
sandy banks, along roadways, rock walls, rockeries, parking strips, and
other sunny places in urban areas [73,128].  It withstands low summer
moisture; some forms will withstand salt spray, grow very slowly, or
grow under semishady conditions [73,128].  Branches with fruit are used
for fall and Christmas decorations [53].  Bearberry plants are available
in nurseries [11,119].  Propagation by layering or rooted cuttings is
easy and well described [46,73,128].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Bearberry increases following moderate disturbances [151].  In western
Montana, it increased strongly after clearcutting with no further
treatment but showed little change after clearcutting with broadcast
burning or mechanical scarification [6].  It is easily killed by
scraping or fire but is able to regenerate from surviving parts or seed
[6].  In north-central Washington it is often the only species growing
on abandoned stock driveways [151].  Bearberry is moderately resistant
to trampling and has low short-term and long-term resilience [19].  In
northern Idaho, its cover was sharply reduced in grazed stands, and it
was considered to be less resistant to trampling due to its small size
and shallow rhizomes (buried stems) [153].  In the Wind River Range of
Wyoming, bearberry increases in response to heavy livestock grazing and
trampling and becomes characteristic of disturbed aspen (Populus
tremuloides) stands [110].

Bearberry is a host to yellow witch's broom, which also affects three
species of spruce (Picea spp.) in Alberta [148].  Bearberry's
sensitivity to herbicides varies from susceptible to intermediate
resistance, depending on both the type of treatment and the life stage
treated [9,13].  Resprouts following disturbance are easily killed by
herbicides, while old-growth is more difficult to kill [13].  Detailed
treatment information is available [13,104].

Bearberry is relatively insensitive to the effects of sulfur dioxide gas
[60].  Concentrations of heavy metals due to air pollution have been
determined for fruit, stems, and leaves [126].

Related categories for Species: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Bearberry