Variation in shrub and herb cover and production on ungrazed pine and sagebrush sites in eastern Oregon : a 27-year photomonitoring study

Summary: Use of range condition guides presupposes that vegetation characteristics of good condition are reasonably consistent from year to year. The validity of this concept warrants consideration because it forms the basis for determining fair and poor range condition as part of an appraisal of range health, which determines the need for livestock adjustment. Seventeen sites representative of common range plant communities in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon were monitored August 1 to 4 from 1976 to 2006 for yearly changes in species dominance and herbage production at a consistent time of year.