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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi | Bearberry
 

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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].

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