pdf
Management and conservation of rangelands are increasingly concerned with maintaining productivity, species composition, and diversity of native plant communities. We estimated aboveground annual productivity, species composition, and diversity of a native bunchgrass type community across 1152, 0.5 m2 plots at The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in northeastern Oregon. Standing crop was estimated by clipping current year’s crop to ground level and canopy cover was estimated visually as cover classes. The Shannon diversity index (H) was used to characterize species diversity in the study area. Across the study sites 186 plant species were observed, approximately 80% of which were native perennial species. Native bunchgrasses and perennials contributed nearly 80% to the total standing crop with 16% attributed to invading and/or introduced species. We found that the prairie was low in productivity but high in evenness of species abundance.