Tweets and OBOLers,

I just received the August 1995 issue of Rangelands, a publication of the
Society for Range Management. Rangelands is a "nontechnical" counterpart
of the Journal of Range Management.

The article is by a prof and grad assistant from North Dakota State Univ
at Fargo, and their work was conducted at the Central Grasslands Research
Center in southcentral ND in mixed grass prairie. Although they dealt
with the prairie subspecies, I thought that folks interested in the re-
introduction efforts for our Northwest subspecies might find the article
of interest as well.

Kirby, Donald R., and Kevin L. Grosz. 1995. Cattle Grazing and Sharp-
Tailed Grouse Nesting Success. Rangelands 17(4):124-126.

Conclusion: "Rotation grazing systems at the Center have increased
livestock production over traditional methods of livestock grazing, while
maintaining or improving forage resources. In addition, these rotation
grazed areas had a similar density of successful sharp-tailed grouse
nests when compared to non-grazed areas. Based on these findings, we
support the use of rotation grazing systems on private lands in the
northern Great Plains for livestock and sharp-tailed grouse production."

The authors state in the text: "The high nest success in grazed areas
can not be explained by this study. We can only suggest a hypothesis,
based on field observations, for this occurrence. Grazed areas are
centers of human and livestock activity, and have reduced levels of cover
for mammalian predators. These factors may make grazed areas
unattractive to predators as foraging sites. In contrast, the seclusion
and cover provided by nongrazed areas may actually attract greater
numbers of predators. Radio-tracking of mammalian predators is needed to
understand the role they play in upland game bird nest site selection and
success in this region."

Interesting read, and available through your friendly inter-library loan...

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov