Animal community
Livestock Interpretations:
This site is suitable for livestock grazing. Big galleta is considered a valuable forage plant for cattle and domestic sheep. Its coarse, rigid culms make it relatively resistant to heavy grazing and trampling. Indian ricegrass is highly palatable to all classes of livestock in both green and cured condition. It supplies a source of green feed before most other native grasses have produced much new growth. Bush muhly is readily eaten by livestock throughout the year when available; however, it is usually not abundant enough to provide much forage. It is grazed heavily in winter when other species become scarce. Because of its branching habit, it is extremely susceptible to heavy grazing. Bush muhly is damaged when continuously grazed to a stubble height of less than 4 inches (10 cm). Winterfat is an important forage plant for livestock in salt-desert shrub rangeland and subalkaline flats. Winterfat palatability is rated as good for sheep, good to fair for horses, and fair for cattle. Abusive grazing practices have reduced or eliminated winterfat on some areas even though it is fairly resistant to browsing. Grazing season has more influence on winterfat than grazing intensity. Early winter grazing may actually be beneficial. White bursage is of intermediate forage value. It is fair to good forage for horses and fair to poor for cattle and sheep. However, because there is often little other forage where white bursage grows, it is often highly valuable to browsing animals and is sensitive to browsing. Nevada ephedra is important winter range browse for domestic cattle, sheep and goats. Nevada ephedra is usually grazed heavily and seems to be perfectly safe for grazing livestock since it induces neither toxicity in ewes or cows, nor congenital deformities in lambs. Creosotebush is unpalatable to livestock. Consumption of creosotebush may be fatal to sheep. Range ratany is an important forage species for all classes of livestock. Palatability of range ratany is rated fair to good for cattle and sheep.
Stocking rates vary over time depending upon season of use, climate variations, site, and previous and current management goals. A safe starting stocking rate is an estimated stocking rate that is fine tuned by the client by adaptive management through the year and from year to year.
Wildlife Interpretations:
Winterfat is an important forage plant for wildlife in salt-desert shrub rangeland and subalkaline flats. Animals that browse winterfat include mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk, desert bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope. White bursage is an important browse species for wildlife. Mule deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn browse Nevada ephedra, especially in spring and late summer when new growth is available. Mountain quail eat Ephedra seeds. Creosotebush is unpalatable to most browsing wildlife. Range ratany is an important forage species for deer. Mule deer browse range ratany year-long with seasonal peaks. Mule deer peak use is from February to April and from August to October. Indian ricegrass is eaten by pronghorn in "moderate" amounts whenever available. In Nevada it is consumed by desert bighorns. A number of heteromyid rodents inhabiting desert rangelands show preference for seed of Indian ricegrass. Indian ricegrass is an important component of jackrabbit diets in spring and summer. In Nevada, Indian ricegrass may even dominate jackrabbit diets during the spring through early summer months. Indian ricegrass seed provides food for many species of birds. Doves, for example, eat large amounts of shattered Indian ricegrass seed lying on the ground. The palatability of bush muhly for wildlife species is rated fair to poor.
Other products
Indian ricegrass was traditionally eaten by some Native Americans. The Paiutes used seed as a reserve food source. White bursage is a host for sandfood, a parasitic plant. Sandfood was a valuable food supply for Native Americans. Some Native American tribes steeped the twigs of Nevada ephedra and drank the tea as a general beverage. Creosotebush has been highly valued for its medicinal properties by Native Americans. It has been used to treat at least 14 illnesses. Twigs and leaves may be boiled as tea, steamed, pounded into a powder, pressed into a poultice, or heated into an infusion. The Papago Indians used an infusion of range ratany twigs externally for treating sore eyes and internally for dysentery. The roots provided them with a red dye for wool and other materials. The dye was also used as an ink.
Other information
Big galleta's clumped growth form stabilizes blowing sand. White bursage may be used to revegetate disturbed sites in southwestern deserts. Once established, creosotebush may improve sites for annuals that grow under its canopy by trapping fine soil, organic matter, and symbiont propagules. It may also increase water infiltration and storage.
