The U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Department of Fish and Game, and the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Nevada, conducted a l0-year cooperative research program of mule deer habitat in Nevada from 1964 to 1974. Condition and trend data were collected from permanent plots established in 1964 and 1965 and were re-evaluated in 1972 and 1973. Similar plots were used to evaluate pinyon-juniper control techniques and effects of wheatgrass seedings in known mule deer ranges. Deer use was highest in those plant communities exhibiting the highest forage diversity. Heavy spring and summer livestock grazing had harmful effects on deer ranges. Pinyon-juniper invasions reduced deer range productivity. Crested wheatgrass seedings were of no benefit to wintering mule deer. Forage diversity, watershed production, and deer use all benefitted on investigated pinyon-juniper control projects. Mixture seedings provided additional forage availability and diversity in otherwise poor deer ranges.
|