Brush Treatment for Grassland Restoration as Part of an Adaptive Management Framework in the Cienega Creek Watershed

The Las Cienegas National Conservation Area in Arizona is home to five of the rarest community types in the American Southwest. Managers constantly combat woody-shrub encroachment onto valuable grasslands, specifically the species velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina). The Bureau of Land Management and the Nature Conservancy partnered to evaluate the condition of resources and to review monitoring protocols. This project will also map distribution of sacaton riparian grasslands, monitor grassland conditions, and evaluate the effectiveness of this brush treatment and grassland restoration program. The project will reduce velvet mesquite cover to maintain semi-desert grasslands, reduce erosion, monitor pre- and post-treatments to assess effectiveness and impacts, and use these results in an adaptive management strategy.