Evaluating Riparian Plant Communities After Restoration of Plains Bison in the Northern Great Plains of Montana☆

• Published in: Rangeland Ecology & Management
• Main Authors: Sze Wing Yu, Kyran E. Kunkel, Donald L. Hagan, David S. Jachowski
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Society for Range Management 2023
• Subjects: Bison bison bison; Plains Bison
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2023.06.007

Restoration of plains bison (Bison bison bison) in the northern Great Plains has been controversial for a variety of reasons, including the public concern that bison will supplant cattle on public rangelands. Riparian zones are among the most biologically rich areas within rangelands, but they are highly sensitive to disturbances such as grazing, leading to the public perception that riparian vegetation communities will be negatively impacted by year-round bison grazing compared with the norm of seasonal cattle grazing. Our objective was to evaluate the vegetation community and soil compaction conditions of areas in the northern Great Plains of Montana, where bison have been restored 5–10 yr as year-round grazers, compared with adjacent sites where cattle have been retained as seasonal grazers. Out of the 24 variables we assessed, only 2 significantly differed between the grazer treatments within our study's time frame and stocking rates. Native species diversity was significantly higher in the bison-grazed treatment (F[1,1,5.98] = 8.16, P = 0.03), and woody height heterogeneity was twice as high in the bison-grazed treatment than the cattle-grazed treatment (F[1,5.97] = 5.81, P = 0.05). Although longer-term studies are required, our findings indicate that year-round bison grazing under the current stocking rates did not degrade riparian vegetation communities compared with seasonal cattle grazing and rather benefitted some aspects of the plant community.