Jessie Tie Exclosure

1967

2004

Description:

Plate 839X. Jessie Tie Exclosure 1967 – 2004 The five acre Jessie Tie Exclosure was built in 1946 to determine if degraded sagebrush sites in the western part of the St. George Ranger District could be successfully reseeded. Part of the area inside the exclosure was root-plowed and broadcast seeded with crested wheatgrass, while part of the exclosure was left untreated as a control, and a third part was sprayed to kill sagebrush before being reseeded. Within a year or two a good stand of crested wheatgrass had been established on the treated part of the exclosure. By 1962, however, the grass stand had started to thin and high jackrabbit numbers were suspected, as the fenced plot excluded only livestock, not deer or small mammals. Thus, in early 1964, part of the existing exclosure was refenced with chicken wire to exclude rabbits - - this included both treated and untreated areas. Later that same year, the jackrabbit population crashed. The study site has since been abandoned and all fences removed by the Forest Service. Plate 839x is viewed north. This part of the exclosure had been sprayed to kill sagebrush and then broadcast seeded with crested wheatgrass. The area on the right was then fenced to exclude livestock and rabbits while the area on the left, in the original image, excluded only cattle, not small mammals. Today, however, sagebrush has reinvaded the treated areas and grasses have declined due to soil moisture competition with the shrubs. Pinyon and juniper have increased in the distance.

Photo Information:

U.S. Forest Service photograph (unnumbered) taken by James F. Rathbun on November 8, 1967; retake by Darrell McMahon on October 15, 2004 - - Photo No. DM-83-34. Original photographs, negatives, and narrative reports held in the range files on the St. George Ranger District, Dixie National Forest, St. George, UT.

Vegetative Community:

Pinyon, Juniper, Sagebrush, Dry Meadow

Location:

South West: Section 30, Range 19 West, Township 36 South; UTM 763522 E, 4168180 N; elevation 6,000 ft.

January 2018