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Grasslands of the Northern Great Plains and Northern Rocky Mountains that are dominated by rough fescue (Festuca scabrella complex) make up the smallest and one of the most distinctive of all major grasslands (grassland types) in North America. Treatment of this unique northern grassland has apparently been about as slight as the acreage of rough fescue range itself. The grassland chapter in the first edition of North American Terrestrial Vegetation (Sims in Barbour and Billings, 1988) ignored rough fescue grassland, but in the second edition this unique grassland cover type was covered (Sims and Risser in Barbour and Billings, 2000, p. 344). There were two half-pages devoted to fescue prairie in the timeless Grasslands of the Great Plains (Weaver and Albertson, 1956, ps. 359-360). Definitive source for this unique rangeland cover type is Coupland (in Coupland, 1992, ps. 291-296).
Rough fescue prairie occurs in a mosaic of native vegetation consisting of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) parkland, northern mixed prairie and, in the foothills Northern Rocky Mountains, various forest communities.
1. Rough fescue prairie— A grassland comprised almost exclusively of the taxonomic complex of Festuca scabrella, essentially a consociation of this species. Parry oatgrass (Danthonia parryi) was main associate. One of the most verdant grasslands of North America and one of the least species diverse. Cardston Municipal District, Alberta. July. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grasslands Ecosystem). K- 40 (Fescue-Oatgrass). SRM 613 (Fescue Grassland).
2. Characteristic foothills range of rough fescue prairie— The physiographic province area of the Great Plains is the Cardston Plain, a rolling, hummocky dissected till plain reflecting the process of glaciation which distinguishes the northern section of the Great Plains from the central and southern sections (High Plains).The rich orthic Black Chernozem soil visible here led to the “land moving to its highest and best economic use”: all the rough fescue range fell before the plow except that of a few historic ranches like the McIntyre Ranch and National Parks (Waterton Lakes and Glacier) and of the foothills that were too steep to plow. Charlie Russell said it most succinctly and the best: "Trails Plowed Under". Cardston Municipal District, Alberta. July. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grasslands Ecosystem). K-40 (Fescue-Oatgrass). SRM 613 (Fescue Grassland).
3. Rough fescue foothills grassland- This was an excellent example of a rough fescue range in Excellent range condition class. It occurred on the hummocky and dissected Cardston Plain where the land was too steep and irregular to be farmed. Associates to the sole dominant rough fescue were Parry oatgrass, intermediate oatgrass (Danthonia intermedia), needle-and-thread, junegrass, bluegrasses, and wheatgrasses. Scattered forbs were various species of Astragalus and Lupinus.
Cardston Municipal District, Alberta. July. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grasslands Ecosystem). K-40 (Fescue-Oatgrass). SRM 613 (Fescue Grassland).
4. Physiogonomy of rough fescue foothills grassland- The sward (the general community or, if one species, population of herbaceous plants often considered as similar to or the same as the plant portion of the sod and viewed as a more or less continuous ground cover) of a consociation of rough fescue. Associate species, all of which are minor compared to the dominant fescue, included Parry and intermediate oatgrasses and isolated individuals of Poa, Agropyron, Stipa, and Carex species. This was included as an example of the classic general outer appearance of this bunchgrass prairie with the cespitose species growing so close together as to outwardly resemble a sod. The fading green color captured so accurately by Kodochrome was characteristic of rough fescue approaching maturity.
McIntyre Ranch, Milk River Ridge, Cardston Municipal District, Alberta. July. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grasslands Ecosystem). K-40 (Fescue-Oatgrass). SRM 613 (Fescue Grassland).
5. Rough fescue grassland in the landscape of the northern Rocky Mountains- This pristine rough fescue range carpeted the foothills while the Front Range of the northern Rockys provided a backdrop on one of the least "tarnished" landscapes in North America. Situated between the mountains and the foothills prairie were scattered "pockets" of the quaking aspen parkland. (This latter range vegetation type was shown under the Rocky Mountain Forest slides.) Asethetic qualities of natural landscapes typically have gained socioeconomic standing below that of commodity production and only after people are able physically, both efficiently and economically, to meet their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. The fact that is often missed (or ignored to political advantage) in this hierarchy is that often all needs can be provided without detriment to any uses and products. Such is the concept of multiple use. This buffalo range of rough fescue grassland is an example of such. While this particular pristine bison grazing ground was in a national park, similar natural pastures are producing commodities like buffalo meat simultaneously with such other uses as watershed, recreation, and spiritual experiences. This wise use management is possible when people of diverse interests work together in good faith efforts to work out compromises that all can live with. The formal process of such cooperation is known as:
Coordinated Resource Management Planning- "The process whereby various user groups are involved in discussion of alternate resource uses and collectively diagnose management problems, establish goals and objectives, and evaluate multiple use resource management" (Jacoby, 1989).
The ultimate desired outcome of coordinated resource management planning is the integration of the various uses and goods produced by management from the natural resources formally known as:
Integrated Resource Management- "The simultaneous consideration of ecological, physical, economic, and social aspects of lands, waters, and resources in developing and implementing multiple-use, sustained-yield management" (Helms, 1998) or, if for certain purposes, an exclusive or singluar emphasis on natural resources:
Integrated Natural Resource Manaagement- "The process of organizing the different human uses of natural resources in such a way as to produce the greatest vlaue of outputs and ecosystem services from those resources over a given period of time" (Loomis, 2002, p. 8). Incidentally, Loomis (2002) is highly recommended for those interested in resource management on public lands.
This was a consociation of rough fescue with scattered plants of Parry and intermediate oatgrasses, Idaho fescue, needle-and-thread, and junegrass. The conspicuous red- or pink-flowered forb was two-grooved milk vetch (Astragalus bisulcatus).
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. July. FRES No. 36 (Mountain Grasslands Ecosystem). K-40 (Fescue-Oatgrass). SRM 613 (Fescue Grassland).
6. Two-grooved milk vetch (Astragalus bisulcatus)- This papilionaceous legume grows sparingly but colorfully on the rough fescue prairie and mixed prairie grasslands of the northern Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains. Two-grooved milk vetch is one of numerous Astragalus species infamous for livestock poisoning. Generally Astragalus-induced toxicity is either 1) locoism or 2) selenium poisoning. Two-grooved milk vetch causes the latter syndrome. In fact A. bisulcatus is an obligate selenium accumulator (ie. it grows only on seleniferous soils). Toxicities caused by Astragalus and Oxytropis species have been the subject of much research in both the United States and Australia. This is a complicated and intriguing subject matter, but serious students of Range Management should familarize themselves with the basic facts of this form of poisonous range plants. Among the numerous texts and references on the subject of poisonous plants two standards (with pages dealing with Astragalus toxicity shown) are Kingsbury (1964, ps. 22, 305-313), the time-honored classic, and Burrows and Tyrl (2002, ps. 374, 378, 510-535), the definitive authority and destined to become a classic.
Cardston Municipal District, Alberta. July.
7. Shoot apex with inflorescence of two-grooved milk vetch- Cardston Municipal District Alberta. July.
8. Soil of the rough fescue grassland- Profile of orthic black chernozemic soil (Beazer series). No wonder sod-busters flocked to it and converted the virgin sod of the northernmost and one of the most beautiful grasslands in North America into productive farms. Milk River Ridge, McIntyre Ranch, Cardston Municipal District, Alberta, July.
9. Panicle of rough fescue- Milk River Ridge, McIntyre Ranch. July.
10. Sego-lily (Calochortus apiculatus)- This member of the lily family is also known variously as sego-tulip, globetulip, and fairy latern. This attractive specimen was growing on the rough fescue buffalo range shown in the Waterton Lakes National Park landscape three slides above. Alberta. July.
11. Flowers of sego-lily- Buffalo pasture, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. July.
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