Managed grazing and seedling shelters enhance oak regeneration on rangelands

F nearly a century there has been concern that several of California’s 20 native oak species are not regenerating adequately (Jepson 1910). Such concern was partially responsible for the 1986 establishment of the Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP), a cooperative effort to promote oak woodland conservation by UC, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the California Department of Fish and Game (Standiford and Bartolome 1997). Evidence indicating that there is an oak regeneration problem in California is based largely on the observed paucity of young seedlings and saplings in the understories of existing oak stands (Bartolome et al. 1987). Describing the foothill oak woodlands in the Carmel Valley, White (1966) stated that “a prevailing characteristic . . . is the lack of reproduction . . . with very few seedlings.” A survey of 15 blue oak REVIEW ARTICLE