VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Empetrum nigrum | Black Crowberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Black crowberry fruits are utilized as fall and winter forage by over 40
species of songbirds, waterfowl, and upland game birds [27,28,44,47].
The berries are especially important to grouse and ptarmigan [10,27,47].

Black crowberry seeds are a major component of the red-backed vole's
fall diet [51].

Big game animals that browse black crowberry foliage include reindeer,
caribou, and bear [4,17,41].  Bear also eat the berries, so black
crowberry utilization by bear increases in summer as fruits become ripe.
Occurrence of black crowberry fruits in bear scat samples increased from
5.9 percent in early spring to 12.9 percent by late summer [26].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Black crowberry in barren-ground caribou forage areas consists of 6.27
percent protein and releases energy in the amount of 5.51 kilocalories
per gram [31]

Digestibility of black crowberry has been classified as low [40].


COVER VALUE : 
Dense mats of black crowberry probably provide cover for small rodents
and mammals.


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Black crowberry has been broadly successful at naturally colonizing
borrow pits in the tundra regions of northwestern Canada, and may be of
use in managed reclamation projects [21].  Black crowberry has followed
cottongrass (Eriophorum spissum) in the colonization of mined peatlands,
but only after decades have elapsed [12].  Dense black crowberry mats
catch blowing soils in areas of high wind exposure, and its interlocking
roots may help stabilize the steep, rocky slopes it often inhabits.

Black crowberry could not be established by seed on test plots in
simulated pipeline trenches near Fort Norman, Northwest Territories
[29].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Black crowberry fruits are used, but usually mixed with other berries,
in pies or jellies.  In the winter, Native Americans gather the
persistant berries buried beneath the snow [19,47].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Black crowberry can be grown from stem cuttings and has been used as
ground cover in rough, low areas in interior Alaska [47].

Black crowberry showed no signs of recovery 2 years after clearcutting
and subsequent burning near Fairbanks, Alaska [9].  Three years after
defoliation, black crowberry in barren-ground caribou forage areas had
not recovered [31].

Related categories for Species: Empetrum nigrum | Black Crowberry