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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Gaultheria shallon | Salal
 

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VALUE AND USE

SPECIES: Gaultheria shallon | Salal
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : NO-ENTRY IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : Browse: In many areas, salal is browsed at least moderately by deer and elk [28,53,113]. However, use varies geographically as well as seasonally. Salal is heavily browsed by black-tailed deer on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia [45]. Persistent leaves enhance winter value, and in many areas, including the Oregon Coast Range, salal is an important winter food for black-tailed deer and mule deer [14,15,65,100,103]. Deer use is often heaviest when other low-growing species become covered with snow [64,65]. High elevation stands are generally not used by deer in winter [64]. Seasonal black-tailed deer use has been documented as follows in western Washington [14]: percent total volume Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 30.4 12.3 15.2 12.9 1.1 0.5 3.9 17.2 1.0 5.1 -- 27.6 Roosevelt elk consume some salal browse, particularly during the winter months [8,53]. Light to moderate elk use has also been reported during fall and spring in some areas [116], but elsewhere, browse may be ignored during spring and summer [53]. Winter elk use may occasionally be locally heavy [116]. Salal is considered an important "emergency" food in some locations [128]. Small mammals such as the mountain beaver also feed on salal [128]. This shrub is a preferred food of the mountain beaver in parts of the western Cascades [68]. Leaves make up a small portion of the white-footed vole's July diet in parts of Oregon [133]. In some areas, domestic sheep and goats browse salal [113]. Fruits and flowers: Salal fruit is readily eaten by many birds and mammals [67]. The band-tailed pigeon, wrentit, ruffed, spruce, and blue grouse, and numerous songbirds feed on "berries" when available [28,87,138]. In some areas, blue grouse chicks exhibit a marked preference for salal fruit, and both chicks and adults consume large numbers during July and August [77]. Some hummingbird use of flowers has also been reported [107]. Black-tailed deer of western Washington consume the flowers of salal [14]. Mammals such as the red squirrel, black bear, black-tailed deer, Townsend's chipmunk, and Douglas' squirrel also feed on salal fruit [45,87]. PALATABILITY : Salal browse is at least moderately palatable to many big game species, but relatively unpalatable to domestic livestock [128]. In some locations, leaves are readily eaten by black-tailed deer [23]. Deer often exhibit a marked preference for tender sprouts on burned-over sites [113]. Evergreen foliage remains palatable during the winter months. Overall palatability of salal has been rated as follows [64,113,116]: CA OR WA Cattle poor to useless ---- ---- Domestic sheep poor ---- ---- Horses useless ---- ---- Elk ---- ---- fair Deer fair to poor moderate ---- Domestic goats fair to poor ---- ---- Salal fruit is palatable to a wide variety of birds and mammals. NUTRITIONAL VALUE : Browse: The nutrient content of salal browse varies according to plant part and with the stage of phenological development. However, in general browse has relatively low nutritional value. Black-tailed deer which fed exclusively on salal browse exhibited signs of malnutrition [64]. Nutrient content has been documented as follows [14,111]: crude ether crude N-free total Ca protein extract fiber extract ash (percent) 6.75 5.19 21.78 58.23 6.65 1.203 Mg K PO4 0.434 0.572 0.272 average percent weight - N P Mg Ca Na K stem .25 .05 .05 .18 .0010 .24 foliage .81 .08 .21 .81 .0030 .40 Fruit: Nutrient value of salal fruit is listed below [101]: kjoules calories protein carbo. ash lipid x 1,000 (g) (g) (g) (g) fresh 15.52 3.71 0.13 0.79 0.03 0.05 dried 14.69 3.51 0.06 0.88 0.04 0.01 Ca Fe Mg (mg) (mg) (mg) fresh 3.77 0.04 0.91 dried 3.44 0.04 0.21 COVER VALUE : Salal provides important cover for a variety of wildlife species [27]. Western hemlock/dwarf Oregon grape-salal, western hemlock/vine maple-salal, and Sitka spruce-salal communities offer good hiding cover for deer and elk, although dense shrub development can sometime limit big game use [61,127]. Red huckleberry-salal shrubfields protect black-tailed deer from winter winds [65]. VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : Once established, salal spreads aggressively and is well-suited for use as a ground cover on erosive banks, roadcuts, highway right-of-ways, and other types of reclaimed ground [80,129]. It can also aid in stabilizing coastal dunes and in protecting vulnerable watersheds [28]. Salal may be propagated by seed [28,80]. Cleaned seed averages 3,209,000 per pound (7,068/kg) and remains viable for "moderate periods" when properly stored [28]. Seed is generally sown in winter or spring [138]. Seedlings exhibit slow growth, but propagation from seed is generally the most economical means of growing salal [129]. Seed collection, handling, and planting methods have been considered in detail [28,80,129]. Salal can also be propagated vegetatively from root, stem, or rhizome cuttings, although propagation can be difficult and initial growth slow [28,129]. Best results are generally obtained from cuttings taken in late summer [80]. Salal can also be propagated by layering, or from suckers and stolons [28]. Various modes of vegetative propagation have been examined in detail [28,80,129]. OTHER USES AND VALUES : Fruit of salal was traditionally utilized by many native peoples of the Northwest [101]. The spicy fruit was eaten fresh, dried, or mashed into cakes [28,50,130]. Leaves were dried, mixed with kinnikinnik (Arctostaphylos spp.) and smoked [28,50]. Teas made from the leaves were used to treat coughs, tuberculosis, and diarrhea [50]. Salal is cultivated as an ornamental. Plants are used in landscaping [50] and serve as an excellent ground cover [66]. Salal can be used to attract wildlife species to backyard gardens [80]. The attractive foliage is used by florists under the name "lemon leaf" as an addition to cut flowers [28,87,113]. The sweet, "bland but pleasant" fruit can be used alone or mixed with other wild berries to make jellies or preserves [28,80]. Approximately 8 minutes of harvesting is required to collect 0.44 pint (250 ml) of fruit [83]. Many species of Gaultheria contain oil of wintergreen and can be used as flavoring agents [113]. MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : Timber harvest: Salal commonly increases after timber harvest [2,61,89]. Generally, if present in the understory prior to harvest, it will also form part of the postdisturbance community [22]. Heavy thinning can increase salal biomass by up to 2.8 times [117]. The effects of timber harvest on salal have been examined in a number of studies [8,30,31,57,70,71,73,79,94,112,115,131]. Competition: Salal competes vigorously with conifer regeneration in some locations [79]. On moist sites, this shrub commonly competes with Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock, and to a lesser degree with western redcedar [143]. In general, the nutrient-demanding Sitka spruce is most harmed by competition with salal [89], but salal can also significantly reduce the basal area and stocking of Douglas-fir seedlings on some sites [16]. In some areas, salal vigorously competes with Douglas-fir for both water and nutrients [15,41,104] resulting in poor seedling growth [134]. In many problem areas, soil moisture deficits are common during the growing season, and competition for moisture may be of primary significance [109]. Competition is often pronounced in drier low elevation forests of coastal British Columbia where dense thickets of salal commonly form on cutover sites [24,42]. Growth of forest crop trees is commonly reduced at approximately 6 to 8 years after planting in coastal Sitka spruce-western hemlock-western redcedar, and western hemlock forests where a dense ground cover of salal is present [92,134]. This growth check period may be due to the direct effects of competition with salal or allelopathy associated with this ericaceous shrub [134]. Anderson [3] reports that a dense growth of salal can also inhibit regeneration of maples (Acer spp.), as samaras are physically prevented from reaching the forest floor [3]. On some sites in western Washington, salal may actually add nutrients to the soil and apparently has no adverse effect on the growth of Douglas-fir [45,79]. Klinka and others [79] report that the amount of nitrogen tied up by salal is relatively small and is not likely to be critical for tree growth except on very poor sites. In some areas, conifer regeneration is typically better on sites dominated by salal than on sites dominated by western swordfern or vine maple [29]. Still, much research has focused on ways to eliminate salal to improve conifer regeneration. Recommendations for minimizing salal competition with conifer seedlings include [89]: (1) preventing fires on naturally regenerated clearcuts (2) preparing seedbeds to encourage prompt natural regeneration (3) planting seedlings immediately after timber removal; adding fertilizers where necessary Successive light treatments may be preferable to a single heavy tree removal [104]. When thinning, particular care should be taken to avoid creating large gaps in the canopy [104]. It may be desirable to maintain greater stand density on dry sites with salal present [104]. Competition between conifer seedling and salal occurs largely below ground [16], and seedlings should be planted as early as possible after timber harvest to allow seedlings a "head start" [16]. In some areas, planting densities necessary to shade out salal quickly are impractically high [16]. Models have been developed which explore the effects of salal competition on the growth of various conifer seedlings [88]. The effects of competition have been considered in detail [16,41,88,89,92,104,135,136,142,143]. However, in many instances, elimination of salal is difficult, uneconomical, or impractical. Bunnell [15] reports that "...attempts to reduce salal abundance may be unwarranted; the species appears well adapted to persist." Chemical control: Salal is resistant to many herbicides including 2,4-D, velpar, 2,4,5-T, amitrole, picloram, and silvex [12,106,120]. Site characteristics [24,41] and season and mode of application can greatly influence the response of salal to herbicides [121]. Repeated application of Garlon is effective although often impractical [24] or prohibitively expensive. Silvex can also be relatively effective in reducing cover when properly applied [121]. Salal appears to be most susceptible to foliage sprays in diesel oil carriers when applied at budbreak [121]. Plants are less seriously damaged by herbicides applied late in the growing season or by those applied in water or oil-in-water emulsions [121]. In test applications, few of the damaged salal plants were actually killed by herbicides, and recovery was generally rapid [121]. However, herbicides can sometimes produce sufficient control for conifer release [121]. Detailed information on the response of salal to herbicides is available [12,17,21,24,45,120,121]. Mechanical removal: Various types of mechanical removal or soil disturbance can stimulate sprouting of salal and produce increased cover [45]. As rhizomes are broken, new plants commonly form [15]. Harvest techniques which disrupt rhizomes, such as the use of skidders, can produce additional management problems by fostering the spread of salal [15]. In coastal British Columbia, spot scarification appears to be relatively ineffective in producing long-term control of salal [24]. Pretreatment levels can be reached by the third growing season [24]. Blade scarification was more effective, reducing cover to 6 percent but resulted in significant site degradation [24]. Details on mechanical treatments are available [24,41,135,136]. Biomass: In general, aboveground biomass of salal appears to be inversely proportional to the amount of overstory foliage [85]: stand age (years) 22 30 42 73 salal biomass (kg/ha) 6300.6 4112.2 3394.0 1010.2 Heavy fertilizer application can decrease the aboveground biomass of salal [117]. Wildlife: Salal fruit production may be limited beneath a closed canopy [15]. Disturbances which eliminate portions of the overstory presumably increase fruit production. Where management goals are aimed at increasing winter big game forage, evidence suggests that salal will respond favorably to thinning [15]. Research indicates that mountain lion, coyote, and wolf urine can be used to inhibit or stop deer use of salal browse [124]. Livestock: Salal is susceptible to trampling damage [102]. Chemical composition: Evidence suggests that salal may be somewhat allelopathic [25,136,141]. The foliage and roots of salal are resistant to decay and can reduce decomposition and water availability [79].

Related categories for Species: Gaultheria shallon | Salal

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