VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Rubus parviflorus | Thimbleberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Wildlife:  Thimbleberry provides food and cover for a variety of
wildlife species.

Browse:  In many areas, thimbleberry browse is reportedly of little
value to most ungulates [17,105].  However, in parts of Oregon,
thimbleberry is considered one of the most important summer browse
species of the black-tailed deer [61].  In a western Oregon study, deer
ate foliage until leaf drop in autumn, but rarely fed on the twigs
during winter [62].  Where deer winter at elevations below the range of
thimbleberry, browse becomes unavailable [62].  Thimbleberry leaves,
stems, blossoms, and fruit made up 1.82 percent of the total
black-tailed deer browse in a western Washington study [12].  In parts
of the West, thimbleberry is regarded as an outstanding mule deer food
[127].  However, in some areas deer winter at elevations below the range
of thimbleberry, and browse becomes unavailable [62].  This shrub is an
important summer moose browse in parts of northwestern Wyoming [106].
Bighorn sheep feed on the foliage of many species within the Rubus genus
[127].  Summer elk utilization in the Selway River Drainage of Idaho was
reported as follows [137]:

June 1-July 15              20 percent
July 15-September 15        50 percent
September 15-October 15     30 percent

On particularly moist, sites thimbleberry foliage occasionally grows
beyond the reach of deer and other large ungulates [61].

Numerous small rodents eat limited quantities of bark [24].
Thimbleberry leaves may represent as much as 3 percent of the annual
diet of white-footed voles in parts of Oregon.  White-footed vole
utilization may be particularly heavy during the fall when thimbleberry
leaves may comprise up to 14 percent of the rodent's total diet [132].
The leaves of many species of Rubus provide food for rabbits and
mountain beaver [18,127].  The porcupine and beaver occasionally consume
the twigs, buds, and cambium of Rubus [127].

Fruit:  Thimbleberry fruit represents an important dietary item for many
birds and mammals [17,105].  Fruit is eaten by black and grizzly bears
[116,138], and numerous smaller mammals.  The coyote, common opossum,
Townsend chipmunk, raccoon, red fox, gray fox, pika, red squirrel,
golden-mantled ground squirrel, skunks, squirrels, and chipmunks also
eat the fruit of Rubus.  "Berries" of species within the Rubus genus are
eaten by many birds, including the ruffed grouse, blue grouse,
sharp-tailed grouse, ring-necked pheasant, California quail, greater
prairie chicken, gray (Hungarian) partridge, American robin, thrushes,
thrashers, towhees, northern bobwhite, gray catbird, band-tailed pigeon,
northern cardinal, yellow-breasted chat, pine grosbeak, and brown
thrasher [18,127].

Livestock:  Thimbleberry is of relatively little value as livestock
forage [68,105,127].  It is occasionally eaten by domestic sheep,
particularly in the Southwest, but is rarely used by cattle [24].


PALATABILITY : 
Palatability of thimbleberry browse to most large ungulates is
described as "fair" or "intermediate" [28,137].  Palatability of
thimbleberry browse to elk in Idaho appears to be somewhat greater in
late summer than earlier in the season [137].

Thimbleberry fruit is highly palatable to many birds and mammals.
However, limited evidence suggests that palatability may vary
geographically [130].

The degree of use shown by livestock and wildlife species for
thimbleberry is rated as follows [28,113,116]:

                        CA       CO       MT       UT       WY     ID
Cattle               useless    fair     poor     poor     ----   low    
Domestic sheep       poor       fair     fair     fair     ----   moderate
Horses               useless    fair     fair     poor     ----   ----
Pronghorn            ----       ----     ----     poor     poor   ----
Bighorn              ----       ----     ----     ----     ----   ---- 
Elk                  ----       ----     poor     fair     fair  summer-high
                                                                 winter-low
Moose                ----       ----     ----     ----     ----   ----
Mule deer            ----       ----     poor     fair     fair   ----
White-tailed deer    ----       fair     poor     ----     ----   ----
Small mammals        ----       ----     ----     good     good   ----
Small nongame birds  ----       ----     ----     good     good   ----
Upland game birds    ----       ----     ----     good     fair   ----
Waterfowl            ----       ----     ----     poor     poor   ----
Domestic goats     fair-poor    ----     ----     ----     ----   ----
Deer               fair-poor    ----     ----     ----     ----summer-mod.   
                                                               winter-low  
Black bear           ----       ----     ----     ----     ----spring,fall-low 
                                                               summer-mod.


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Thimbleberry is rated as poor in energy and protein value [28].  Crude
protein value of the foliage varies both seasonally and annually.
Protein levels are generally highest during the spring and summer and
then decline markedly in winter [32,108].  Specific values of foliage
protein taken from plants in Oregon Coast Ranges are documented below
[108]:

                         crude protein - percent

    date               grazed plots      ungrazed plots
    October              8.1                7.8
    March               22.5               25.2
    October              9.0                8.2

In Oregon seasonal protein values varied from 8.58 percent in June to
4.25 percent in December [32].


COVER VALUE : 
Thimbleberry provides important cover for a variety of wildlife species.
Dense thickets of thimbleberry form good nesting habitat for many small
birds [18].  During summer, deer frequently bed down during the hottest
part of the day in dense, cool stands of thimbleberry growing beneath a
red alder canopy [61,62].  Coastal brushfields dominated by thimbleberry
or salmonberry serve as favorable habitat for small mammals, such as
deer mice, chipmunks, voles, shrews, hares, and mountain beaver [67].
Species within the Rubus genus provide cover for rabbits, red squirrel,
pika, black bear, and beaver [127].  Subalpine fir (Abies
lasiocarpa)/thimbleberry habitat types of the Southwest offer good
thermal protection for big game during the hot summer months [35].  The
degree to which thimbleberry provides environmental protection during
one or more seasons is rated as follows [28]:

                         UT       WY
Pronghorn               poor     poor
Elk                     poor     poor 
White-tailed deer       ----     poor
Small mammals           good     fair
Small nongame birds     good     fair
Upland game birds       ----     fair
Waterfowl               poor     poor


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Thimbleberry reportedly has only low to moderate value in preventing
soil erosion [28], although it has shown good potential for revegetating
many types of disturbed sites.  It has the ability to form clumps which
expand greatly once established [8].  Thimbleberry has proven useful in
rehabilitation projects in Yosemite National Park, the coastal mountains
and foothills of California, and on roadcuts in the northern Rocky
Mountains of Idaho and Montana [8,68].  This shrub exhibited good
survival (73 percent) as long as 4 years after plantings were made in
western Montana and northern Idaho [68].  Initial propagation is
reportedly more difficult than for other species within the Rubus genus
[8].  Seed may be difficult to obtain commercially [34].

Thimbleberry may be propagated vegetatively by planting stem cuttings or
rhizome fragments [15].  Best results have been obtained from starting
dormant rhizome segments [8].  Several cultivars are now commercially
available [8].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
The fruits of thimbleberry are edible, although palatability tends to be
greater towards the eastern portion of this plant's range where rainfall
is greater [130].  "Berries" make excellent jelly but are too seedy for
jam [128].  Approximately 0.27 quart (250 ml) of fruit can be harvested
within 10 minutes [87].  Young shoots may be eaten as greens and leaves
have been used in making teas [75].

Thimbleberry was traditionally used by indigenous peoples throughout its
range.  The fruit was eaten fresh in summer and dried for winter use.
The bark was boiled and made into soap, and leaves were used to make a
medicinal tea.  Leaves were powdered and applied to burns to minimize
scarring [55].

Thimbleberry is occasionally planted as an ornamental because of its
attractive fragrant flowers and colorful fall foliage [71,130].  Several
cultivars have been developed, including `Golden' and `Colonel' [8].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Timber harvest:  Thimbleberry often assumes prominence on recent
clearcuts in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests of the
Northwest [13,36,96].  Thimbleberry can establish as early as the first
growing season after clearcutting [139].  In some areas it dominates the
understory within 5 years after logging and slash disposal [96].
Thimbleberry is also an initial increaser after logging in western
redcedar (Thuja plicata)-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) forests of
northern Idaho [100,135] and in grand fir forests of northwestern
Montana [5].  Evidence suggests that thimbleberry is often most favored
by relatively severe treatments.  Cover is up to ten times greater on
plots with little overstory than on sites where the tree cover is 55
percent or more [100].  Species such as thimbleberry and salmonberry
compete vigorously with Douglas-fir, western hemock (Tsuga heterophylla)
and Sitka spruce seedlings in parts of the Northwest [4,55,84,111,112],
and conifer regeneration may be significantly impaired in some areas.
Thimbleberry may compete with conifer seedlings for water during summer
dry periods in parts of British Columbia, [15].

Conifer regeneration:  Although competing with conifer seedlings in some
areas, light to moderate thimbleberry cover may also provide "safe"
microsites for developing seedlings on some disturbed sites [15,42,116].
Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii),
lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and grand fir regenerate well under
thimbleberry in grand fir/Rocky Mountain maple or grand fir/blue
huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum) habitat types of central Idaho
[42].  Natural regeneration of western larch (Larix occidentalis) is
generally good on sites with thimbleberry [116].

Chemical control:  Thimbleberry is reported to be moderately susceptible
to herbicides [44,125].  Herbicides such as picloram + 2,4-D,
glyphosate, and 2,4,5-T have proven effective in controlling
thimbleberry [15,16,44,90,91,94].  Late foliar application of 2,4,5-T
can be particularly useful in releasing Douglas-fir and Sitka spruce
(Picea sitchensis) seedlings [44].  Guidelines detailing the relative
effectiveness of various herbicides on thimbleberry and the proper
method of application are available [16,43,44,90,91,92,93,94,95,118,119,125].

Recreational impacts:  Thimbleberry reportedly exhibits relatively low
resistance to trampling in recreational use studies but has high short-
and long-term resilience [14].
 
Browsing:  Thimbleberry typically decreases in response to heavy domestic
sheep use [101].

Mechanical removal:  Thimbleberry generally resprouts rapidly following
mechanical removal and can attain pretreatment height and cover within
1 year after cutting [15].

Related categories for Species: Rubus parviflorus | Thimbleberry