VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Rubus spectabilis | Salmonberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Wildlife:  Salmonberry provides important food and cover for a wide
variety of birds and mammals [5].  Tender, leafy new growth is a
preferred deer food in many areas [38].  In Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii) forests in Oregon's Coast Ranges, deer use is often
particularly heavy during the summer, although these ungulates continue
to feed on the leaves until they drop from the plants in autumn [29].
In many areas, including the Olympic Peninsula, salmonberry is also an
important elk browse [5].  Elk utilize the leaves and twigs to some
extend year-round [55], but use tends to be particularly heavy during
the spring and summer [21,29,30,55].  Mountain goats and moose browse
the young stem tips early in the season [5,66].  The mountain beaver
also consumes salmonberry foliage [29].  The stem, foliage, cambium, and
bark of species within the Rubus genus provide food for small mammals
such as rabbits, porcupine, and beaver [11,64].
 
Numerous species mammal consume salmonberry fruit including the coyote,
black bear, and grizzly bear [5,66].  The common opossum, Townsend's
chipmunk, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, raccoon, red fox, gray
fox, and several species of skunks and tree squirrels also feed on the
fruits of Rubus [11,64].  In many locations, fruits are eaten by a
variety of birds including the ruffed grouse, northern bobwhite,
sharp-tailed grouse, California quail, ring-necked pheasant, blue
grouse, gray (Hungarian) partridge, band-tailed pigeon, yellow-breasted
chat, pine grosbeak, and various thrushes and towhees [11,64].  The
American robin and gray catbird readily feed on salmonberry fruit [5].
Mice and other small rodents consume salmonberry seeds [5].  Nectar from
the flowers provides food for bees and other insects, as well as for the
rufous hummingbird [5,49].

Livestock:  Salmonberry is seldom grazed by cattle but is considered
fair sheep browse in parts of west-central Washington [14].  In some
areas, salmonberry is a preferred summer sheep browse [44].


PALATABILITY : 
The leafy new growth of salmonberry appears to be more palatable to most
wild ungulates than the tougher mature foliage [14,3,66].  Salmonberry
leaves and twigs are reportedly highly palatable to elk from spring
through fall [55].  However, dormant twigs are rarely utilized [33] and
are presumably somewhat less palatable than those of many shrub
associates.

The fruit of salmonberry is highly palatable to many species of birds
and mammals [5].  The rufous hummingbird and many species of insects
seek out the nectar of the showy salmonberry flowers [5,49].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
The food value of salmonberry browse varies both seasonally and
annually.  Evidence suggests that crude protein values tend to be higher
in the spring or early summer than in winter [15].  Crude protein values
in Oregon varied from 9.42 percent in June to 7.32 percent in December
[15].
    
The following crude protein values of salmonberry foliage were recorded
during two seasons in the Coast Ranges of Oregon [51]:
 
            crude protein content (%) during two seasons 

            grazed plots             ungrazed plots 
October     9.0                      8.3 
October     8.6                      6.9 


COVER VALUE : 
Salmonberry provides good cover for a variety of birds and mammals [29].
In many locations, rodents utilize dense salmonberry thickets as hiding
cover [5].  Salmonberry-dominated brushfields in Coastal Oregon furnish
excellent habitat for small mammals such as deer mice, voles, shrews,
hares, and mountain beaver [36].  Species within the genus Rubus provide
hiding or resting cover for the pika, red squirrel, black bear, beaver,
and rabbits [64].  Thickets of Rubus serve as favorable nesting sites
for many species of small birds [11].


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
The deep root system of salmonberry can help prevent soil erosion on
steep slopes [5].  Brinkman [8] observed that cold treatment is not
required for fall plantings.  Good establishment can occur when seeds of
species within the genus Rubus are scarified and planted after late
summer or early fall.  Seeds which have been scarified and stratified
can be planted in the spring.  Rubus seed can be planted with a drill
and should be covered with 1/8 to 3/16 inch (0.3-0.5 cm) of soil [8].
Cleaned salmonberry seed averages approximately 143,000 per pound
(314,978/kg) [8].

Seedlings and cuttings can be transplanted onto disturbed sites with
good results.  Barber [5] reported that various types of asexual
cuttings exhibited good survival in laboratory experiments.  Specific
results were as follows [5]:
 
               type of cutting        percent survival 
 
               leaf bud cuttings            63  
               stem cuttings                82  
               root cuttings              > 82  


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Salmonberries are described as deliciously flavored, although somewhat
variable in taste, and may be eaten fresh or preserved [14,29,65].  The
fruits make good jelly but are reportedly too seedy for jam [65].
Harvest times are comparable with those of other wild berries and
approximately 0.27 quarts (250 ml) of fruit can be picked within 5
minutes [45].
 
Salmonberry fruit was traditionally an important food of many Native
American peoples of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest [5,45].
Salmonberries were eaten fresh and preserved for winter use [45].
Sprouts of salmonberries were eaten in the spring [5,29], and the bark
and leaves were used to make various medicinal preparations [29].
Salmonberry bark is reportedly an excellent remedy for ailments
associated with excess salmon consumption [5].  Many species within the
genus Rubus have been grown as ornamentals or as berry-producing shrubs
in gardens.  Salmonberry was first cultivated in 1827 [8].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Competition:  Dense stands of salmonberry often develop after
clearcutting and other types of timber treatment that significantly
reduce the overstory canopy [3,53,57,66,73].  Portions of both
belowground and aboveground stems damaged during logging can sprout and
form new colonies [5].  Brushfields dominated by salmonberry and other
shrubs are particularly common at low to middle elevations on moist
slopes in the Coast Ranges of Washington and Oregon [24,25,37,43] and on
moist valley bottoms in Alaska [66].

Salmonberry brushfields provide formidable competition for conifer
seedlings [1,44,54,57,66].  In hemlock (Tsuga spp.)-spruce (Picea
spp.) forests of central Oregon, salmonberry can dominate a site within
6 months after thinning [3].  In many areas this shrub quickly overtops
Douglas-fir seedlings, which become weak and spindly when suppressed
[4,38,62].  Terminal bud growth of overtopped Douglas-fir regeneration
may be much reduced [38].  Salmonberry also competes with Sitka spruce
and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) regeneration [52].  Evidence
suggests that severe soil disturbances associated with timber harvest
may be most conducive to the growth and establishment of salmonberry
[3].  Establishment is also favored by overstory removal.  Response of
salmonberry by intensity of thinning was documented as follows [3]:

harvest intensity  control    light     medium     heavy     extreme 
(habitat)               (percent mean cover)   
 
spruce               ---      0.063       ---       ---       19.188 
hemlock              ---       ---       1.063     10.875      7.250 

In many areas, the elimination of salmonberry has proven to be
difficult, if not impossible [34].  The rhizome network is so extensive
that severe soil disturbance or an extremely hot slash fire generally
damages only a small portion of these underground regenerative
structures [70].  Limited evidence suggests that in some instances it
may be useful to treat salmonberry before trees are harvested [70].
Cutting salmonberry prior to timber removal may benefit conifer
seedlings in riparian areas where trees are to be underplanted [70].
 
Chemical control:  Salmonberry has been variously described as resistant
or moderately susceptible to herbicides [5,25,60].  Even when
top-killed, plants frequently survive and sprout from the root and stems
the following year [56,59].  Repeated applications of 2,4,5-T,
glyphosate, or picloram + 2,4-D have produced good results [9,24,25,38].
Some herbicides, such as amitrol-T, have proven effective in controlling
salmonberry but have resulted in the release of thimbleberry, a common
and highly competitive shrub associate [60].  Detailed information is
available on the relative effectiveness of various herbicides and on
preferred application procedures [9,24,25,38,42,56,58,60,62].
 
Grazing:  Domestic sheep have been used to help control salmonberry in
some particularly troublesome brushfields.  Salmonberry was
significantly reduced after two summers of sheep grazing in the Coast
Ranges of Oregon [44].
 
Mechanical removal:  Preliminary evidence suggests that the sprouting
ability of salmonberry may decline after many successive cuts [70].  In
controlled experiments, plants exhibited reduced sprouting ability after
numerous successive monthly treatments [70].

Related categories for Species: Rubus spectabilis | Salmonberry