Establishing Native Species into SD Roadway Environments for Habitat and Biomass Production.

Establishing native species into South Dakota roadside environments for habitat and biomass production Jacob Foley*, Arvid Boe, Dwayne Beck McFadden Biostress Laboratory Department of Plant Science South Dakota State University Brookings, SD, 57007 Corresponding author email: jacob.foley@sdstate.edu ABSTRACT South Dakota is home to 58,690 hectares of land along state highway right of ways. Currently, these acres are dominated by smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis). Smooth bromegrass is an invasive, cool season, nonnative species that easily moves into and dominates grasslands. Roadside sampling in eastern South Dakota was completed during the summer of 2015 and 2016. It was found that 70% of the sampled ditches along state roads were dominated solely by smooth bromegrass. During peak standing crop, a typical brome dominated ditch can produce 1.34 mg/Ha, where as a ditch with native grass flora later in the year can yield approximately 9 mg/Ha. Research plots in South Dakota at Felt Farm and the Oak Lake Research Station that were dominated by smooth bromegrass were selected for a study that tests the application timing of glyphosate for smooth bromegrass control. Glyphosate was applied in late October 2015 before plots were seeded to a native species mix. Once established, notes on smooth bromegrass cover, native grass growth and native forb flowering were recorded. Glyphosate was applied to separate plots in the spring of 2016 before being seeded to the same mix of species. Sampling was completed at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, SD where a mile along the south side of highway 34 was converted from smooth bromegrass to a mix of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). A comparison on the biomass yields of this ditch and the adjacent smooth bromegrass ditch was completed.