• IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE
• PALATABILITY
• NUTRITIONAL VALUE
• COVER VALUE
• VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES
• OTHER USES AND VALUES
• MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:

Big game:  Big huckleberry is a good food source for grizzly bears and black bears [31,97,159]. It is a key food for bears in Montana [114]. Bears feed on the berries, leaves, stems [4], and roots [81]. Big huckleberry is the dominant huckleberry species consumed by grizzly and black bears of Glacier National Park, Montana [81] and a major shrub food item of bears in Yellowstone National Park [85]. Bears may begin feeding upon big huckleberry berries in mid-July at lower elevations (3,000 to 3,937 feet (900-1,200 m)) of Glacier National Park [159].

Big huckleberry is an important species for white-tailed deer in grand fir and western redcedar forests of northern Idaho, with greatest use occurring in the fall [83]. It  is a minor component in the summer diet of western Montana elk [42]. Elk feed on big huckleberry when leaves are young and tender [163]. Big huckleberry also provides browse for moose in north-central Idaho [121].

Avian:  Although not preferred, big huckleberry provides a fall food source for blue grouse in Oregon [28]. It is an important food source for ruffed grouse [74].

PALATABILITY:

Overall palatability of big huckleberry has been rated as follows [35,84,96,141,163]:

	ID	MT	eastern OR	WA	WY
Cattle	----	poor	----	----	----
Domestic sheep	good	fair	good	good	----
Horses	----	poor	----	----	----
Pronghorn	----	----	----	----	poor
Elk	fair to good	----	----	good	----
Mule deer	good	fair	----	----	good
White-tailed deer	good	----	----	----	good
Small mammals	----	----	----	----	good
Small nongame birds	----	----	----	----	good
Upland game birds	-----	----	----	----	good
Waterfowl	----	----	----	----	poor
Grizzly bear	----	good	----	----	good
Black bear	good	good	good	good	good

NUTRITIONAL VALUE:

Nutritional value of big huckleberry has been rated as follows for Wyoming [84]:

Elk	good
Mule deer	good
White-tailed deer	good
Antelope	poor
Upland game bird	good
Waterfowl	poor
Small non-game bird	good
Small mammals	good

Light-intensity (litter temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit (66 °C) at 1.9 inches (5 cm)) slash burning, after clearcutting in a subalpine fir/queencup beadlily habitat type composed largely of Douglas-fir and western larch, had no significant effect (p> 0.05) on big huckleberry nutritional value [134].

COVER VALUE:

Big huckleberry provides hiding or resting cover for several wildlife species. Dense thickets provide good cover for many smaller birds and mammals. Cover value of big huckleberry has been rated as follows for Wyoming [84]:

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

VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:

The Wind River Nursery in Carson, Washington, provides the following suggestions for successful big huckleberry propagation. Initial planting is recommended in flats with subsequent transplanting of germinants to individual pots. Flats should be covered with glass or plexiglass to reduce soil moisture loss and placed in a cool location (large refrigerator or unheated greenhouse) to provide cool-moist stratification. After stratification, flats should be transferred directly to a heated greenhouse for germination. Seedlings should be hand transplanted to pots [67].

Propagation method	Seed collection	Seed extraction	Stratification	Seed planting	Seedling container	Seedling media	Other treatment
Seed	Summer	Mash fruit with water, separate	Short/cool	Tray	10-15 cm pot	Perlite/vermiculite/peatmoss or Perlite/vermiculite/barkdust	Inoculation with mycorrhizae

 

OTHER USES AND VALUES:

Big huckleberry was historically an important food item in the diet of many Pacific Northwest Native Americans [75,79,90,115].

Big huckleberry may hybridize with Vaccinium cultivars, producing drought-resistant cultivars that are adapted to the West Coast [30].

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:

Silviculture: Postlogging treatments are the most influential variables on big huckleberry productivity [96]. Initial decreases of big huckleberry in logged areas are common.

Big huckleberry decreases after clearcutting without site preparation or slash treatment, clear cutting followed by broadcast burning, and clear cutting with mechanical scarification (dozer piling and burning) within Douglas-fir/ninebark, Douglas-fir/big huckleberry, subalpine fir/beargrass, and subalpine fir/fool's huckleberry habitat types of western Montana [6].

Douglas-fir forests: Within the Douglas-fir/big huckleberry habitat type, strong decreases in big huckleberry occur after disturbance. Big huckleberry was drastically reduced after overstory removal in the Douglas-fir/big huckleberry habitat type of west-central Montana. [6].

Subalpine fir forests: Moderate decreases in big huckleberry after clearcutting without site preparation or slash treatment occur in the big huckleberry phase of subalpine-fir/beargrass habitat types. Strong decreases in big huckleberry occur after clearcutting followed by broadcast burning or stand-replacing wildfire. Stand-replacing wildfires without clearcutting have the quickest recovery. Within the subalpine-fir/fool's huckleberry habitat type, little or no decrease occurred after clearcutting without site preparation or slash treatment and light to moderate broadcast burning [6].

Depending upon moisture regimes, clearcut logging that leaves the understory intact could decrease the productivity of big huckleberry fields. Removal of forest cover on dry, south-facing slopes exposes big huckleberry to sun, wind, frost, and winter desiccation. Big huckleberry showed a greater tolerance of overstory removal, clearcutting, and wildfire within subalpine fir/beargrass habitat type in north-west Montana than in subalpine fir/beargrass in dry west-central Montana [6].

Plant species composition was evaluated in a moist Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir forest at 5,184 to 5,988 feet (1,580-1,825 m) with a 40% slope and a northeast aspect on silty loam soil (pH 4.2-6.1) in southeastern British Columbia. The area was logged during summer using conventional ground skidding. Two years later a broadcast burn was implemented on 27 August. Engelmann spruce seedlings were planted in the area during September at 648 trees/acre (1,600 trees/ha). Five years later, big huckleberry had greater frequency of occurrence within slash-burned areas than in the sidecast (the filled edge of the skid trail), mid-trail, and cutbank areas of skid trails [118]:

	Slash burn	Sidecast	Mid-trail	Cutbank
Frequency (%)	60	20	16	8
Cover (%)	11.5	1.6	2.3	0.4

Big huckleberry was slow to develop even in slash-burn areas, showing 3% coverage at 3 postburn years, 6.7% coverage at 4 postburn years, and 11.5% coverage at 5 postburn years [118].

Soil scarification through mechanical means (bulldozing) does not promote big huckleberry growth [127].

Laursen [89] provides detailed models for predicting height and cover of big huckleberry following management disturbance. Model equations were generated following observations in the Douglas-fir to mountain hemlock zones throughout northern Idaho, eastern Washington, and western Montana.

Martin [96] provides specific management recommendations for big huckleberry within subalpine fir/beargrass-big huckleberry habitat types; subalpine fir/queencup beadlily-menziesia habitat types; subalpine fir/queencup beadlily-beargrass habitat types and subalpine fir/menziesia habitat types.

Coates [22] provides a general description of big huckleberry response to a variety of silvicutural treatments in British Columbia:

Treatment	Big huckleberry response
Overstory removal	Berry production increases, with population numbers increasing slowly.
Manual cutting	Sprouting and suckering occurs but recovery is slow and may take 3 to 7 years to regain pretreatment levels. Increases in number and density of stems are common.
Mechanical site prep	Likely to reduce frequency and cover for several years.
Chemical treatments	Tolerant to very tolerant to glyphosate; 2,4-D as early foliar spray kills aerial parts with sprouting occurring the following season.

Recreation Management:  Cole and Trull [25] evaluated big huckleberry response to recreational disturbance (human trampling) on the east slopes of the North Cascades of Washington. Big huckleberry was not tolerant of trampling. Decreases in vigor occurred after trampling, with little recovery the following growing season. Results from trampling experiments (a 1-way walk at a natural gait by a 154-lb (70 kg) trampler in lug-soled boots) in subalpine-fir stands at  5,741 feet (1,750 m) are summarized below:

Number of passes	Cover (%): after trampling	Cover (%): after 1 year recovery
25	93	69
75	54	46
200	6	44
500	0	40
700	--	--

Similar results of low resistance and low recovery potential to summer trampling were seen in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, at 4,200 to 4,400 feet (1,260-1,320 m) [24].

Berry Production: Several abiotic and biotic factors determine the extent of big huckleberry fruiting. Greater berry production occurs in soils high in organic matter. Soil moisture availability affect the quality and quantity of berry production within a growing season [135]. 

Pruning can significantly (p < 0.05) increase vegetative production of big huckleberry through increased lateral bud development. Bud elongation usually begins within a few weeks of stem clipping, with buds nearest to point of stem removal developing first. Pruning date has no direct effect upon the amount of lateral bud break if conducted before early July. Pruning after July may suppress lateral bud swelling and elongation through the initiation of fall dormancy. Mid-June and early July pruning produced significantly less (p<0.05) lateral bud growth than earlier pruning [105]:

Treatment date	Mean # lateral shoots developing	Mean shoot growth (mm)
19 May	2.97	92.67
1 June	2.63	59.20
15 June	2.70	19.67
8 July	2.20	17.93
4 August	1.47	3.07
Control	0.30	2.43

Berry production usually decreases with increased forest overstory [108]. In Montana, aspect has the greatest effect upon berry production. Fruit productivity decreases from optimum northwest aspects to north, northeast, then from east to west. Canopy cover is inversely related to berry production; however, south or west aspects show no inverse relation. On south and west aspects, canopy removal may decrease big huckleberry due to subsequent moisture stress [96].

According to Martin [96], berry production is generally delayed at least 5 years on disturbed sites. Berry production increases 15 to 20 years after wildfire on mesic north or east aspects and 5 to 10 years after fire when sites are clearcut and broadcast burned.

Although coverage of big huckleberry may have a positive response to fire disturbance, berry production is usually delayed. Overstory removal with minimal huckleberry disturbance is recommended to increase berry production. Frilling (2,4-D applied to frills cut in trees) and girdling are 2 methods that effectively remove an overstory with minimal disturbance [111]. Fields of big huckleberry, productive for huckleberry picking, have developed after fires within some areas of mountain hemlock-subalpine fir forests in Washington and Oregon [92].

Herbicide application (2,4-D) along with cut and burn treatments were evaluated to monitor effect on big huckleberry berry production within a Pacific silver fir forest zone of Oregon. Frill treatments, herbicide 2,4-D and water applied to stem incisions, were carried out on overstory trees larger than 1.97 inches (5 cm) d.b.h. in July. Spraying of 2,4-D in late July on all vegetation below 3 meters was also implemented. The cut and burn treatment consisted of overstory removal followed by an August broadcast slash burn which killed, but did not consume, shoots. Berry production (kg/ha) at 5 and 7 post-treatment years is summarized below [108]:

Treatment	5 post-treatment years	7 post-treatment years
Frill	200.1	122.6
Cut and burn	76.7	51.7
Spray	57.2	38.5
Control	108	29.9

Girdling is suggested as a non-chemical approach to achieve results produced by the frill treatment [108].

Indirect application of herbicides may have a profound negative effect on big huckleberry, producing high mortality. Glyphosate may provide minor control of big huckleberry [99]. Top-kill and prevention of subsequent sprouts maybe obtained through the use of 2,4-D [102] and triclopyr [100,102]. Miller [101] provides a summary of herbicide control within the inland Northwest.

Within subalpine fir/big huckleberry habitats of northern Utah, berry production is increased when the relative amount of direct sunlight received is increased [98]. Overstory shading has no effect on berry sweetness [110].

Stark and Baker [135] provide information on the ecology and culture of big huckleberry for cultivation or intensive field management.

Related categories for SPECIES: Vaccinium membranaceum | Big Huckleberry