Mountain mahogany rejuvenation plan slated for next year

Wyoming Game & Fish Habitat Biologist Willow Bish may begin a mountain mahogany rejuvenation project in County Park in Converse County late next year.

And – if approved and funded, she’s considering using goats to graze down the overgrown mountain mahogany brush.

Converse County Park (CCP) is located in the foothills of the North Laramie range south of Douglas and Glenrock. 

Mountain mahogany, or ercocarpus montanus, is a North American species of shrub or small tree in the Rosaceae family native to northern Mexico and the western United States.

The issue in CCP is the bushes have grown too much and aren’t palatable or nutritious to area wildlife, specifically the south Converse mule deer herd, according to Bish.

“The mountain mahogany needs rejuvenated. Historically it evolves with fire and burns once in awhile. This hasn’t been happening. (After a fire) the plant would normally send out new leaders which would be palatable nutrients, good forage for wildlife. Without the fire mechanism it’s grown and matured and isn’t as palatable and nutritious anymore,” Bish said.

Bish presented her ideas for the rejuvenation plan to Converse County Commissioners Jan. 21 during a regularly scheduled bimonthly meeting.

Bish explained the first thing she needed to do was get the commissioners’ approval to do the rehabilitation in CCP, which she did. Next, she’s applying for funding to pay for the project, though it is more than a year away, tentatively planned for winter of 2021.

By using cutting crews – or, possibly even goats – to cut back the plants, it will force them to send off those tender new shoots, which wildlife like to eat.

“True mountain mahogany is a resprouter, but requires a disturbance to activate this mechanism. Without that mechanism in place the mountain mahogany is becoming decadent. We’re creating a disturbance mechanism,” she said.

Burning it back is not on the table for several reasons.

“Another issue we have, if we could burn it, is there may be cheatgrass underneath there and we’d probably get cheatgrass coming back. Cheatgrass and fire work well together. It’s also really risky to run burns. We don’t have a good entity to lead the burns. Plus, a lot of that area is mixed ownership, state, federal, private. It’s risky to run prescribed fire through it.  So, we don’t do it,” she said.

Game & Fish needed to find a solution. Bish said they brought crews into other locations and started cutting back the mountain mahogany by hand.

“Some places we can bring equipment in and mow it, cut it back, but these are not places we can get the equipment into. I have crews that come into places and use brush saws by hand, cutting in a mosaic pattern – randomly. Some is left as-is, providing cover for mule deer. Other areas are cut back for rejuvenation,” she explained.

While the idea of using goats to graze back CCP’s mountain mahogany is under consideration, Bish said she wants to try the idea out first.

“We’re looking at bringing goats in to graze, but I’m not sure yet if County Park will be the park to do the trial (run) on. It will take the right sites and conditions to try that. It may be another way to treat mahogany. It’s potentially a cost-saving measure, an alternative way to achieve the same results for a better price,” she said.

Bish told commissioners it could cost as little as $3,000 a month to graze a herd of goats on CCP land versus $20,000 a month for hand crews.

“Grazing (goats) is low impact. I may have someone coming in to trial it. A gal I have talked to about it is from Wyoming. She’s raising goats for meat. It would support the local food shed,” Bish said.

While work hasn’t yet started in CCP, Bish has work going on in Game & Fish’s north Laramie Foothills Enhancement Area. Bish said she’s funded the mahogany work (2018-2020) with money from Wyoming Game & Fish Trust Fund, Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resources Trust, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Russell Construction Mitigation Fund (which is from the gravel mine off of the Cold Springs Road).

Much of the true mountain mahogany habitat in Converse County is classified as ‘Mule Deer Crucial Winter Range,’ she said.

“The South Converse Mule Deer herd uses this area extensively. This herd has experienced a significant decline and shows a high prevalence of chronic wasting disease. While the population has shown slight recovery in recent years, fawn production has been inadequate to increase the population towards objective in this herd. High quality habitat which assists with fawn production and recruitment may help mitigate the impacts of this disease on the herd,” she said.

Winter and early spring are the best times to conduct this work since the plants are dormant. When they become active, Bish said,  they will be able to allocate their resources to the remaining branches for new growth.

“It’s for multiple species but we’re trying to target the south Converse County mule deer herd. There’s a high rate of chronic wasting disease. It’s a really tough issue, but the herd doesn’t have great fawn production. By doing the habitat work, there’s more nutritious forage for those does. It’s a way to help the herd and improves the number of fawns, in spite of having the disease,” she said.

In the meantime, Bish is applying for funding for the CCP project and notifying grazing lease-holders.

“Some of the grazing lessees contact notifications are still pending. We want to make sure everyone is on board. It’s a really benign treatment,” she said.