A Note from Dave:
Haying is underway in the Harney Basin and we are thankful for the water we received this Spring, which should result in the third year in a row of a good hay crop. On a more concerning note, it looks like we might have another challenging fire season based on the early fires we are seeing and the predicted hot/dry summer.
The last couple of months have been very busy at EOARC Burns, including sponsoring and attending the American Society of Animal Science Southern/Western Joint Section Meeting in Arlington, Texas where multiple presentations were made by EOARC faculty and graduate students. In addition, EOARC hosted the annual Harney County 2nd Graders and Rural Schools Field Trip (always a fun day for both the kids and the faculty/staff at EOARC as we share how science impacts our lives and environment), the annual College Range Camp, and the Rangeland Ecology and Management Field Course for rangeland professionals. Also, this was the third year that EOARC faculty assisted in the Wildfire, Smoke, and Livestock Webinar Series hosted by the Livestock and Wildfire Research Group, we held a couple of Field Safety Skills Workshops, attended the OSU Range Field Day in Central Oregon, provided numerous extension/outreach talks with local, state, regional, and national audiences, and Juliana Ranches has kicked off the second year of the OSU Ranching Academy. Lastly, in early May, I had the honor of providing testimony, along with other representatives of OSU and College of Agricultural Sciences leadership, to the Education Subcommittee on Ways & Means at the Oregon State Capital about the role and importance of the Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension Service, and Forest Research Lab to our stakeholders and local communities.
We continue to work on making our website easier to navigate and, hopefully, more impactful for our stakeholders, potential employees, and visitors.
As always, we are extremely proud to acknowledge when our faculty and staff receive awards. Juliana Ranches, OSU Beef Extension Specialist, received the 2025 Western Section of the American Society of Animal Science Extension award. This was well deserved and we are extremely fortunate to have Juliana as a colleague at EOARC.
If you have any comments or suggestions about what you would like to see in future editions of the newsletter please feel free to contact Shellie Tiller ([email protected]) and she will work with us to try get all requests addressed.
I hope you are all well!
David Bohnert
Director, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center (Burns and Union Stations)
Oregon State University
A Note from Chad:
Greetings from Burns. As I write this I’m looking out my window at the 3rd good hay year in a row for the meadows of the Harney Basin. That doesn’t happen very often but we’ll take it when it does. On the flip-side, the eastern Oregon wildfire outlook is not looking great with rangeland fuel conditions similar to, but not quite as bad as what we experienced last year (see https://rangelands.app/great-basin-fire/).
Our science outreach program has been running in high gear for the last few months. In April we hosted what I believe is the 10th Science in the Sagebrush Steppe at the Northern Great Basin Experimental Range. This 4-day rangeland ecology field trip is attended by college students from across the Pacific Northwest and students and university advisors camp at the research range for the duration of the event. Curriculum is developed and taught by EOARC staff including ARS, OSU, and TNC personnel along with Jennifer Moffitt with NRCS out of Redmond. Our learning goal is always to reinforce basic principles of rangeland ecology and then have students apply those principles in development of a management plan. This year’s plan focused on strategic post-fire management of sagebrush rangeland. A big thank you to Karen Moon for volunteering to organize meals, buy food, and cook. This year she was joined in the kitchen by her daughter Chrissy and volunteers from the Harney Soil and Water Conservation District and High Desert Partnership. Their culinary efforts are a definite highlight for the event.
In May we held a 2-day field course for rangeland professionals at the research range. With a curriculum similar to Science in the Sagebrush Steppe, the goal of this course was to provide an opportunity for continuing education for folks already working as rangeland managers or decision makers. This course was also a great opportunity for those of us here at EOARC to learn more about the needs of land managers and how our science can help support them. A big thank you to Andy Gallagher with the Crook County SWCD and Jason Kessling with the Harney SWCD for providing management perspectives during our juniper ecology and management learning module. Also in May, we co-hosted and instructed at a riparian management field course in Crook County and had our annual 2nd grade and rural schools field trip.
Our ARS spotlight employee this week is John Yoder, who is a Research Technician working with Jon Bates, and is also our newest permanent ARS employee. John comes to us from Connecticut and has hit the ground running with field season in full swing and he is also involved with EOARC youth outreach. Welcome to the EOARC family John!
Thank you Shellie for getting the newsletter together, and as always, please feel free to reach out to me any time we can be of help.
Chad Boyd
Research Leader, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, Burns
USDA-Agricultural Research Service
A Note from Cameron:
Our crew recently worked with EOARC Union and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatiulla Indian Reservation to complete data collection for our first year of post-treatment data collection following indaziflam and indaziflam + imazapic spraying at four sites by La Grande, Pendleton, Starkey, and Enterprise, Oregon. Though we will be measuring responses for several years and have yet to perform preliminary data analysis, several interesting trends are already apparent.
First foods (e.g., Lomatiums, Balsamroots, wild onions, Triteleia, camas) are a primary focus of this research; for this reason our plots are often placed in areas with shallow, rocky, and clayey soils that favor geophytes (plants with large underground storage organs, think carrots, lilies, and relatives). These soils tend to have high soil moisture early in the spring but dry out quickly. The short-lived invasive grasses favored on these sites are a bit different than the cast of characters we think about in upland great basin sagebrush sites, with ventenata, medusahead, bulbous bluegrass, and annual bromes (soft, meadow, rough, and rattlesnake) comprising the majority of offenders.
Prior to herbicide application, invasive grass coverage seems to be highest on shallow sites compared to adjacent areas with a deeper soil profile. Herbicides combined with an exceptionally dry spring have resulted in excellent control of most invasive grasses, particularly in the combined herbicide treatments. However, bulbous bluegrass control was less effective, and more years are likely needed to determine how this short-lived perennial responds to control efforts.
These preemergent herbicides work by inhibiting root growth in the upper soil profile. This mode of action is particularly effective against germinating seeds but can also cause damage to shallow roots of perennial grasses. We observed damage and mortality to established Idaho fescue and Sandberg’s bluegrass plants in shallow sites, possibly due to the inability of roots to penetrate much past the herbicide active layer. These two species are valuable because they are excellent at holding space and resources that would otherwise be available to annual grasses and are resilient to grazing and other disturbances. I am interested to see how annual grasses respond in future years, and whether the control effect of herbicide on annuals is enough to exceed the potential negative consequences of perennial grass mortality and damage on annual grass reinvasion. We did not notice this level of perennial bunchgrass mortality on nearby deeper soil sites, even within the same species. This may indicate that precision is needed when deciding where to apply herbicide, and that benefits may depend on the site and plant community present.
I’m excited to provide future updates once we delve into the data, and as always, please reach out if there is anything I can do for you,
Cameron Duquette
Rangeland Scientist, The Nature Conservancy
A Note from Bryan:
Warm greetings from Union. Summer is upon us, and the Station faculty, staff and students are in full 'field season' mode!
On the research front, Station researchers are busy working on a variety of applied research projects. Dr. Trace Martyn recently welcomed Maddy Hjort to the Station – she will be working as an undergraduate technician throughout the summer and this coming academic year. This summer they are working on exploring the impacts of climate and invasive annual grasses (IAGs) on restoration success in rangelands. This encompasses running trials on the station’s two-way thermogradient table for multiple restoration and exotic species to compare how germination rates respond to variable temperatures. They are also trialing the usage of salicylic acid to improve establishment of species in stressful environments. Further, they are running competition experiments between IAGs and native species to determine competitive hierarchies that could be used to inform restoration species selection. We are all excited to hear what they find.
Student and early-career training and mentoring, such as described above are priorities at the Station, and this year marks a record number of summer technicians supporting our research and outreach efforts. We have 18 students (including high school, undergraduate, and graduate) and recent graduates actively working alongside Union staff, researchers and partners working on a variety of projects. From evaluating seed and seedling ecology of native and invasive plants species to supporting research characterizing mule deer forage quality and quantity across the eastern Oregon landscape, the Station provides invaluable opportunities for students to enhance their skillsets and gain hands-on research and outreach experience. These experiences are strengthened by the collaborative nature of our efforts, so technicians not only get to learn from EOARC faculty, but also from our state, federal, tribal, non-profit, and rancher partners.
Station faculty have also been busy sharing research with a variety of audiences. In early June, the station welcomed the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Board of Directors to the station. This was an opportunity to highlight the Station’s research and outreach that supports agricultural in the region, as well as an opportunity for the Board to get into the field and see collaborative research in action. In this case, we showcased our research on rangeland herbicide treatments effectiveness and impact on IAG control as well as on native forb diversity. Also in June, I had the opportunity to present our research on the ecology and management of rangeland First Foods at the Society for Ethnobotany’s conference in Prague, Czech Republic. This was a great opportunity to connect and share experiences here in the region with a global audience.
I hope this has provided an idea of what we have been up to recently. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time!
Bryan Endress
Assistant Director EOARC - Union
Upcoming Events:
American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) Annual Meeting, July 6-10, 2025, Hollywood, FL
Eastern Oregon Economic Summit - July 24-25, 2025 at Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Pendleton, OR
ARS Employee Spotlight - John Yoder
Hi there, my name is John Yoder. I was born and raised in Connecticut and moved to Burns in January of this year. After studying biology at Eastern Connecticut State University, I worked in an environmental lab in Connecticut, testing water and soil samples from all over the Northeast. I got tired of working in the lab 100% of the time and seeing 0% of the sun, so I’m thrilled to be working here in the agricultural research field. I joined Dr. Bates' crew, where I have learned a lot about juniper, sagebrush, and rangeland systems as a whole. This summer, we have been focused on studying the composition of low sagebrush communities. I have thoroughly enjoyed the fieldwork so far and I feel so grateful to have found a job that allows me to travel all over Southeast Oregon and beyond. The landscapes and wildlife I have seen in my short time here are more than I could have imagined back in Connecticut. I'm also learning a lot about plant identification in the high desert. I look forward to learning as much as I can from my friends and coworkers at EOARC and contributing to the research happening here every day.
In my free time I like to spend time with family and friends. Most of my family (and my dog) are still in Connecticut, but my middle sister will be attending the University of Oregon in the fall, which we are all excited for. I like to fish, downhill ski, and watch a lot of soccer and movies. I will be involved with the youth soccer program in Burns/Hines this coming fall. Since moving to Burns, I have started to raise chickens. Recently, my mom and youngest sister came out to visit, and my sister got to name one of my young chickens! So far, I am loving all aspects of rural life. It is a welcome change after the hustle and bustle and non-stop highway traffic of Connecticut!
2025 Field Season
Outreach, Educational Activities & More
Roadside Clean-up - April 3, 2025 - EOARC staff cleaned up a portion of Hwy 205 & Greenhouse Lane. We try to do this activity prior to the Harney County Migratory Bird Festival so that things are cleaned up. This year we collected 22 bags of garbage.
American Society of Animal Science Southern/Western Joint Section Meeting - Arlington, Texas April 5-8, 2025 - This year, EOARC master’s students Jocelyn Torres, Erica F. de Oliveira, and Aline C. R. dos Santos, had the opportunity to share part of their MS projects and they all did a great job! Dave Bohnert also shared a little bit of his work in supplementation type in riparian pastures. Juliana Ranches presented some of her methane work at the Kunkle Symposium, and she was recognized with the Western Section Extension award! Congratulations Juliana!
Central Oregon Ranching Academy - We’ve just completed Modules 2, 3, and 4 of the eight-part Central Oregon Ranching Academy series. Module 2 focused on fine fuels management, as well as key ranching practices such as branding, calf care, and vaccination. Module 3 explored the breeding season, with an emphasis on genetics and genomics. Module 4 covered weaning and heifer replacement strategies.
Recent Publications
Variation in Reproductive Photosynthetic Compensation of Distinct Germplasm Varieties of a
Native Rangeland Grass, Pseudoroegneria Spicata, Following Floral Defoliation
Quigley, Kathleen M., R.C. O’Connor, T.A. Monaco, E.P. Hamerlynck
Spring Precipitation Amount and Timing Predict
Restoration Success in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem
Denton, Elsie M., R.L. Sheley, S.P. Hardegree
Estimation of Leaf Area Index in Sagebrush Steppe
with Low Cost Unoccupied Aerial Systems
Woodruff, Craig D., P.E. Clark, P.J. Olsoy, J. Enterkine
Climate Change Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Strategies
for Land Managers on Northwest US Rangelands
Maher, Anna T., H.R. Prendeville, J.E. Halofsky, M.M. Rowland,
K.W. Davies, C.S. Boyd
Plant Production Forecasts Across Geographical Sites and
Ecological States in Sagebrush-Steppe Plant Communities
Schantz, Merilynn C., S.P. Hardegree, R.L. Sheley, J.D. Bates,
J.J. James, J.T. Abatzoglou, K.W. Davies
Postfire Seeding of Native Compared with Introduced Bunchgrasses
Followed 3 Yr Later with Invasive Annual Grass Control
Davies, Kirk W., C.S. Boyd, L.N. Svejcar, J.D. Bates
A Potential Solution to the Challenge of Controlling Invasive
Annual Grasses While Maintaining a Sagebrush Overstory
Davies, Kirk W., T.E. Martyn, C.G. Crouch
IYRP North America Kid’s Coloring Pages
Clenet, Danielle R., L.N. Svejcar
Great Basin Wildflowers Kid’s Coloring Pages
Clenet, Danielle R., L.N. Svejcar
Spread of Forage Kochia in Invasive Annual
Grass-Dominated Sagebrush Steppe
Davies, Kirk W., L.N. Svejcar, D.R. Clenet
Spotlight
It’s always good to be thinking about preparing for wildfire. Check out the Extension Fire Program’s webinars, readiness checklists, and other resources related to wildfire preparedness here.
Social Media:
sagehabitatteam & thecattlecorner
Publications:
