Practical solutions for managing Bradshaw’s lomatium and wetland habitats – Final Report
This report to the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board summarizes restoration work at three sites to improve wet prairie habitat and an investigation of the use of grazing as a restoration tool to improve habitat for Bradshaw’s lomatium, a federally listed endangered species.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Bradshaw’s lomatium (Lomatium bradshawii) is a federally listed endangered plant that occurs in seasonally wet prairies in the Willamette Valley (ORBIC 2016). Habitat loss from farming, industrial and residential development, and altered flood regimes have dramatically reduced populations of this species. The Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) worked with private landowners and managers to enhance 309 acres across three sites in the mid-and central Willamette Valley that currently host a population of Bradshaw’s lomatium or have the potential to support this endangered species. Habitat restoration involved removing invasive plant species and improving native species diversity using traditional restoration techniques and modified agricultural practices. Flash grazing, a relatively new and evolving livestock technique, demonstrated the dual benefits to farmers and land managers of alternative biomass removal methods. Effectiveness monitoring documented the response of vegetation to the treatments, including the changes in population structure of Bradshaw’s lomatium in grazed and ungrazed plots. Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) funds were used to remove invasive species, reduce encroaching woody plants, introduce and augment native wet prairie communities that benefit pollinators and other wildlife, and to monitor success. Partners in this project included two private landowners, McKenzie River Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Cody Wood, owner of Willamette Valley Lamb.
