Needle And Thread Grass

More info for the terms: forb, frequency

Following a lightning-caused fire in the Nebraska sandhills, needle-and-thread grass coverage increased 12% on burned hilltops but decreased 16% on north and south-facing slopes [23].



Fall prescribed burning in east-central Oregon had no significant
effect on needle-and-thread grass frequency in postfire year 1 or 2. See the Research Project Summary of this work for more information on fire effects
on needle-and-thread grass and 60 additional grass, forb, and woody plant species.

needle-and-thread grass

Needle-and-thread grass is an important component of nesting sites for sharp-tailed grouse in southwestern North Dakota [68] and in Wyoming [103].

More info for the term: cool-season

Needle-and-thread grass is a cool-season, native, perennial bunchgrass [66]. The bunches are small, from 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm) in diameter, and widely spaced [128].





Needle-and-thread grass is shallow-rooted [10] to medium-rooted and produces numerous fibrous roots of 0.04 inches (1 mm) or less in diameter [126]. Roots grow both vertically and laterally, more than 14 inches (36 cm) from the base of the plant in the first 0.5 foot (0.15 m) of soil. These profusely branched roots reach 3 to more than 5 feet (0.9-1.5 m) deep [34,57,116,127,126,128], but more than 50% of the total root biomass is within the first 0.6 foot (0.2 m) of soil [95]. In a Saskatchewan prairie, number of roots per shoot of needle-and-thread grass averaged 3.8 to 5.4, and the mean number of lateral roots per decimeter of main root was 39 to 75 [34].



Needle-and-thread grass is moderately to highly drought resistant [10,101,116,128] and recovers well from drought [53,116].



Needle-and-thread grass is colonized by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM). In a study in northern Nevada, 83% of plants within a grazing exclosure were colonized with VAM, while only 33% of grazed plants were colonized, a significant (p<0.05) difference [13].

Needle-and-thread grass grows throughout the western and midwestern United States and Canada, from the Yukon to California, east to Ontario, Indiana, and Texas, and south into Mexico. There are outlying populations in Rhode Island and New York [79,122].

More info for the terms: caudex, fire suppression, habitat type

Needle-and-thread grass sprouts from the caudex following fire, if heat has not been sufficient to kill underground parts [1,46].


Mean fire intervals for needle-and-thread grass depend on the habitat type in which the grass appears. In ponderosa pine/bunchgrass habitats in the northern Rocky Mountains, east of the Cascade Range, and in the Blue Mountains, mean fire intervals are estimated from 6 to 22 years [135]. In big sagebrush/grass communities in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, presettlement mean fire intervals are estimated at 17 to 41 years [138]. Needle-and-thread grass is a common component of pinyon-juniper woodlands which are estimated to have burned every 10 to 30 years prior to fire suppression [138].

More info for the terms: competition, culm

A big sagebrush-steppe community type that burned naturally in late summer was studied to determine the effects of cheatgrass competition on the recovery and growth of needle-and-thread grass. Needle-and-thread grass plants had significantly less (p<0.05) biomass in the study plots in which they competed with cheatgrass than in those in which they did not. The authors concluded that cheatgrass depletes the soil water quickly and takes advantage of soil spaces left by plants killed by the fire. Cheatgrass uses the water before needle-and-thread grass [96].

Fall is generally the least harmful season for burning needle-and-thread grass in terms of survival percentage. However, mortality in needle-and-thread grass appears to be related to the amount of dead material in the plant culm, and mortality may occur regardless of the season of the burn or burn conditions. Heavy grazing prior to a burn may reduce dead material and improve survivorship of needle-and-thread grass [134].

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: hemicryptophyte




Hemicryptophyte

More info for the terms: density, frequency

Needle-and-thread grass is common on dry hills and plains, and on stony and sandy soils throughout its range [36,130]. Soils are usually slightly high pH, low water-holding capacity, low clay percentage and high bulk density [108]. On the Upper Snake River Plains in Idaho, needle-and-thread grass is common on sandy soils and dry areas [11]. In southwestern Saskatchewan, needle-and-thread grass often dominates on loam soils but is usually absent from heavy clays [83].


Needle-and-thread grass occurs on well-drained soils from 660 to 11,550 feet (200-3500 m) in California [79]. In Arizona, needle-and-thread grass occurs from 3,500 to 8,500 feet (1061-2576 m) on dry hills, open woods, and sandy soils, often with juniper [89]. In Montana, needle-and-thread is found from 2,000 to 8,000 feet (606-2424) [116]. In Utah, needle-and-thread occurs from 3,498 to 10,065 feet (106-3050 m) [130].



Needle-and-thread grass generally requires at least 10 inches (254 mm) of annual precipitation [44] but grows in areas with less [130]. In Montana, needle-and-thread grass grows best with 10-18 inches (254-457 mm) of precipitation [116].

The aspect on which needle-and-thread grass appears most frequently varies by geographic location. In the sandhills of Nebraska, needle-and-thread grass is commonly found on north-facing slopes [23].
In Saskatchewan, needle-and-thread grass reaches highest densities on warm, dry, upper, south-facing slopes [19]. In Alberta, needle-and-thread grass is largely restricted to south-facing slopes and is most dense on the upper slopes [35]. In eastern Colorado, needle-and-thread grass is most common on north and east-facing slopes [39].In Montana, needle-and-thread grass performs worst on southwest slopes [94].



At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site, density and frequency of needle-and-thread grass was significantly (p<0.01) correlated with April precipitation, but not with May or June precipitation [60].

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

210   Interior Douglas-fir

220   Rocky Mountain juniper

237   Interior ponderosa pine

239   Pinyon-juniper

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

More info for the term: shrub

FRES20   Douglas-fir

FRES21   Ponderosa pine

FRES29   Sagebrush

FRES30   Desert shrub

FRES31   Chaparral-mountain shrub

FRES35   Pinyon-juniper

FRES36   Mountain grasslands

FRES38   Plains grasslands

FRES40   Desert grasslands

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: forest, woodland

K011   Western ponderosa forest

K016   Eastern ponderosa forest

K017   Black Hills pine forest

K018   Pine-Douglas-fir forest

K019   Arizona pine forest

K022   Great Basin pine forest

K023   Juniper-pinyon woodland

K024   Juniper steppe woodlands

K037   Mountain-mahogany-oak scrub

K038   Great Basin sagebrush

K040   Saltbush-greasewood

K051   Wheatgrass-bluegrass

K055   Sagebrush steppe

K056   Wheatgrass-needlegrass shrubsteppe

K057   Galleta-threeawn shrubsteppe

K063   Foothills prairie

K064   Grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass

K066   Wheatgrass-needlegrass

K067   Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass

K068   Wheatgrass-grama-buffalograss

K070   Sandsage-bluestem prairie

K075   Nebraska Sandhills prairie

K086   Juniper-oak savanna

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following Rangeland Cover Types (as classified by the Society for Range Management, SRM):

More info for the terms: grassland, shrub, woodland

101   Bluebunch wheatgrass

105   Antelope bitterbrush-Idaho fescue

110   Ponderosa pine-grassland

210   Bitterbrush

301   Bluebunch wheatgrass-blue grama

302   Bluebunch wheatgrass-Sandberg bluegrass

303   Bluebunch wheatgrass-western wheatgrass

304   Idaho fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass

310   Needle-and-thread-blue grama

311   Rough fescue-bluebunch wheatgrass

314   Big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass

317   Bitterbrush-bluebunch wheatgrass

320   Black sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass

322   Curlleaf mountain-mahogany-bluebunch wheatgrass

401   Basin big sagebrush

403   Wyoming big sagebrush

404   Threetip sagebrush

405   Black sagebrush

406   Low sagebrush

412   Juniper-pinyon woodland

413   Gambel oak

414   Salt desert shrub

415   Curlleaf mountain-mahogany

501   Saltbush-greasewood

602   Bluestem-prairie sandreed

603   Prairie sandreed-needlegrass

605   Sandsage prairie

606   Wheatgrass-bluestem-needlegrass

607   Wheatgrass-needlegrass

608   Wheatgrass-grama-needlegrass

609   Wheatgrass-grama

611   Blue grama-buffalograss

612   Sagebrush-grass

613   Fescue grassland

714   Grama-bluestem

720   Sand bluestem-little bluestem (dunes)

721   Sand bluestem-little bluestem (plains)

722   Sand sagebrush-mixed prairie

724   Sideoats grama-New Mexico feathergrass-winterfat

727   Mesquite-buffalograss

More info for the term: culm

Needle-and-thread grass is top-killed by fire. It may be killed if the aboveground stems are completely consumed [22]. Needle-and-thread grass in sagebrush ecosystems is classified as slightly damaged by fire [106,110,111,], and in Intermountain rangelands, as severely damaged [139].



Wright and Klemmedson [137] performed burning studies on needle-and-thread grass plants in Idaho. Burning in June killed more than 90% of needle-and-thread grass plants, while only 20% burned in July died, and none burned in August died. Needle-and-thread grass' dense culms, with a lot of dead material, will continue to burn after the fire has burned over the stand; resulting temperatures can be lethal to underground parts[134,136,137,139]. Charring down into the growing points is noticeable in needle-and-thread grass plants following burning [134]. Large plants are more susceptible to fire kill than smaller plants [139].



Some studies indicate that needle-and-thread grass becomes more resistant to burning from spring through summer as tissues dry out and root storage of carbohydrates increases [1,95,134]. However, this finding contradicts Wright [133], who claimed mortality of needle-and-thread following burning peaks in July and August and declines slightly in September.


Wright [133] claims that the large amounts of dead material in needle-and-thread grass culms cause the plant to burn completely regardless of weather or fire conditions, and that complete defoliation can itself result in mortality, regardless of heat effects in the base of the culm [134].

Needle-and-thread grass is widespread throughout the West and can be important to livestock and wildlife, especially early in the spring. The plant is preferred forage of black-tailed jackrabbits [4,38], black-tailed prairie dogs, northern pocket gophers [124], and desert cottontails [75].

More info for the terms: association, forest, grassland, habitat type

Needle-and-thread grass appears in many habitat types, including forested, grassland, and shrub-steppe communities.


In Utah, needle-and-thread grass occurs in the wheatgrass-bluegrass (Triticeae-Poa spp.) rangelands with bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda), Cusick bluegrass (P. cusickii),  Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides), sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus), globemallow (Sphaeralcea spp.), balsamroot (Balsamorhiza spp.), yarrow (Achillea spp.), phlox (Phlox spp.),  paintbrush (Castilleja spp.), and milkvetch (Astragalus spp.) [9].



Needle-and-thread grass also appears in the saltbush-greasewood (Atriplex spp.-Sarcobatus spp.) type in Utah with shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia), rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), budsage (Artemisia spinescens), greenmolly (Kochia americana), spineless horsebrush (Tetradymia canescens), hopsage (Grayia spp.), Gardner's saltbush (Atriplex gardneri), Indian ricegrass, sand dropseed, galleta (Hilaria jamesii), greasewood, saltgrass (Distichlis spp.), alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides), seepweed (Suaeda spp.), and pickleweed (Allearolfea occidentalis) [9].



Other common associates of needle-and-thread grass include Utah juniper (Juniperus osteosperma), Colorado
pinyon (Pinus edulis), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa), big sagebrush
(Artemisia tridentata), black sagebrush (A. nova), sand sagebrush (A.
filifolia), low sagebrush (A. arbuscula), silver sagebrush (A. cana),
threetip sagebrush (A. tripartita),
antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata),
serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.),
Idaho fescue (Festuca
idahoensis), threadleaf sedge (Carex filifolia), mountain muhly
(Muhlenbergia montana), prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), elk sedge
(Carex geyeri), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), and
prairie sandreed (Calamovilfa longifolia).



Vegetation typings in which needle-and-thread appears as a dominant include:




Vegetation and soils of the Rock Springs Watershed [14]

Vegetation and soils of the Duckwater Watershed [15]

Habitat types of the Curlew National Grassland, Idaho [29]

A reconsideration of grassland classification in the northern Great Plains of North America [33]

Forest vegetation of eastern Washington and northern Idaho [42]

Structure and ecology of coniferous forests of the northern Rocky Mountains [43]

Plant communities and habitat types in the Lava Beds National Monument, California [54]

The many faces of South Dakota rangelands: description and classification [63]

Selected habitat types of the Custer National Forest [72]

The vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland Districts of the Custer National Forest: a habitat
type classification [73]

The vegetation of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota: a habitat type classification [74]

Characteristics of the Stipa comata-Bouteloua gracilis-Bouteloua curtipendula association in northern Colorado [76]

The vegetation of Alberta [99]

Aspen community types of the Intermountain Region [100]

More info for the term: graminoid




Graminoid

More info for the terms: cover, density, frequency, habitat type

Needle-and-thread grass greens up early in the spring [65,78] and may be subject to overgrazing if other forage is not available [128]. The plant goes dormant in summer, but given sufficient moisture, needle-and-thread grass will green up again in the fall [91]. The plant is particularly sensitive to defoliation from June 1 to July 31 [104]. Clipping treatments in an Idaho study caused the highest mortality in July and August [134]. Needle-and-thread grass is considered a decreaser under domestic livestock grazing pressure by most authors [8,13,23,25,26,28,33,45,84,113,120,], although others claim needle-and-thread grass increases under or is unaffected by grazing pressure [2,3,25,50,85,86,88,97]. At the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site, relative cover and density of needle-and-thread grass significantly (p<0.05) increased over 10 years of cattle grazing in a big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)/Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides)-needle-and-thread grass habitat type [3].



Prairie dog activity can have a profound effect on needle-and-thread grass communities. Only 2 years after the establishment of a black-tailed prairie dog colony on a South Dakota buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides)-Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis)-needle-and-thread grass site, needle-and-thread grass no longer dominated. By 4 to 6 years of colonization, needle-and-thread grass had dropped from 97% frequency to less than 10% frequency [5,6].

In general, needle-and-thread grass' nutritional value is considered fair to deficient for cattle [61].



Nutritional content of immature needle-and-thread grass is as follows [102]:

Nutrient
Content

Ash (%)
12.3

Crude fiber (%)
29.0

Ether extract (%)
2.6

N-free extract (%)
44.1

Protein (%)
12.0

Calcium (%)
0.93

Cobalt (mg/kg)
0.051

Phosphorus (%)
0.16

Carotene (mg/kg)
88.2

Vit. A equiv. (IU/g)
147.0




Late in the season, protein content drops as low as 2.9% [102].

 

AZ  &nbsp CA   CO   ID   IL   
IN   IA

KS   MI   MN   MS   MO    MT   NE   

NV   NM    NY   ND   OK    OR   RI   

SD    TX    UT   WA   WI    WY


AB    BC    MB    NT    ON    SK   YK

MEXICO

More info for the term: fruit

Needle-and-thread grass is moderately palatable to wildlife and domestic stock. The plant provides highly palatable early spring forage in Utah and fodder in fall and winter, but the summer fruit has a sharp awn that may injure grazing animals, especially domestic sheep [21,78,85,128,130]. Throughout the West, needle-and-thread grass is moderately important spring forage for mule deer, but use declines considerably as more preferred forages become available in summer [48].

Animal use of needle-and-thread grass is as follows [11,38,51,67,69,72,81,94,107,117,126]:

Animal
UT
MT
CO
NV
WA

Cattle
----
low-medium
low-medium
good
----

Domestic sheep
medium
----
----
good
----

Bison
----
----
medium
----
----

Elk
----
----
medium
----
medium (in Oct.)

Mule deer
----
none-low
low
----
----


Pronghorn
low
low
----
----
----











 

More info on this topic.

More info for the term: seed

Needle-and-thread grass becomes dormant during hot weather, but it will green up again in the fall given sufficient precipitation [92,128]. According to Wright [132], needle-and-thread grass never becomes truly dormant in the summer in Idaho.

Seasonal development of needle-and-thread grass in the Great Plains is as follows [128]:

Stage Approx. date
Growth resumes Late March, early April
Flowering Early June
Ripe seeds shed July


On the Upper Snake River Plain, Idaho, seasonal development is as follows [11]:

Stage Date
Growth starts 4/4
Flowerstalks appear 5/21
Heads fully out 6/18
Flowers in bloom 6/22
Seed ripe 7/1
Dissemination starts 7/4
Dissemination over 7/20
Plant drying 7/3
Plant dried 8/1

More info for the terms: association, caudex, cover, formation, frequency, grassland, prescribed burn, wildfire

Needle-and-thread sprouts from the caudex following fire [1,46]. Recovery generally takes 2 to 10 years [138,139].


Post-fire productivity and coverage usually decrease for 1 season and then increase in the following year, although this response is not consistent. In Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, needle-and-thread grass coverage decreased for the 1st season following a spring prescribed burn and then rapidly increased in the following 2 seasons [56]. Following a prescribed burn and a wildfire elsewhere in the southern Black Hills, South Dakota, needle-and-thread grass production was significantly higher (p<0.05) on the burned than on unburned control plots in the 1st year following the fire [20]. Following an August wildfire in eastern Idaho in a curlleaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius)/bluebunch wheatgrass type, needle-and-thread grass frequency and coverage percentage slightly increased in the 1st year over an unburned control [30]. In North Dakota, 2 years following a prairie fire, needle-and-thread grass cover increased by 100% [90].

In contrast, in the Nebraska Sandhills, a lightning strike started a fire in October in a sand bluestem (Andropogon gerardii var. paucipilus)-little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)-prairie sandreed (Calamovilfa longifolia)-needle-and-thread grass-blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis)-hairy grama (B. hirsuta)-spike dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus) grassland. In the following year, needle-and-thread grass biomass on unburned sites was not significantly different from biomass on burned sites in June, July, and August, but by October, biomass on unburned sites was higher (p<0.05) [98].



Fire did not affect the root biomass of needle-and-thread grass following a late-summer fire in a northern Nevada grassland [95].



Blank and Young [18] studied the effects of heating the substrate and exposing seeds to burned soil and big sagebrush smoke on needle-and-thread grass seedling emergence, and plant growth response to aqueous extracts of heated soil and smoke. Emergence rate and maximum emergence of seedlings of needle-and-thread grass were significantly (p<0.05) greater in heated substrates than controls. However, exposure to sagebrush smoke significantly reduced the rate of and maximum emergence of needle-and-thread grass. When seeds were pretreated with smoke, needle-and-thread grass had significantly greater leaf elongation rates for the first 30 days of growth. Number of leaves, rate of leaf formation, and above- and belowground biomass were also higher following smoke treatment. Soaking in the soil solution resulted in significantly less aboveground biomass than the control. The authors did not identify the agent in sagebrush smoke that resulted in these growth effects.





In Wind Cave National Park, a spring (April 21) prescribed burn in 1976 in a mixed grass prairie association resulted in significantly greater (p<0.10) yield of needle-and-thread grass over the unburned control in the 1st year following the fire, and significantly less (p<0.10) yield in the 2nd year [114]. The authors explained these differences by the 2nd year having lower precipitation, and an observed stimulation of flowering, in both inflorescence numbers and size, in the 1st year after burning.


In contrast, in Idaho, the number of inflorescences per needle-and-thread grass plant decreased following fire [41]. In North Dakota, in the 1st year following a spring burn, no needle-and-thread grass inflorescences were found [49].


In Wind Cave National Park, needle-and-thread grass decreased in frequency following 2 spring burns. The author postulated that the mild preceding winters caused the grass to green up earlier than usual, and therefore, it was at an advanced phenological point and more susceptible to fire damage than it usually would be in April [118].


On an upland mixed-grass prairie site in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, burning needle-and-thread grass in April and October both reduced aboveground biomass (p<0.05) for up to 3 growing seasons. The authors concluded that the greater damage occurred in April because the plants were actively growing, unlike October, and that needle-and-thread grass is intolerant to both spring and fall burning [131].

More info for the terms: fire regime, graminoid

Tussock graminoid

Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)

FIRE REGIMES: Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the terms: cover, presence, seed

Propagation is by seed [94] and by tillers [1,46,128]. Seeds are long-lived. Sixty-three percent of seeds stored in an open warehouse in Utah germinated after 9 years [120]. Seeds may germinate in spring or fall, but more commonly in the fall [52].

Because of a long awn on the seed, needle-and-thread grass seeds can imbed themselves in the soil by a twisting action of the awn in response to daily humidity changes [52,92].



Needle-and-thread grass seeds are not a prominent component of soil seedbanks. Hassan and West [77] studied soil seedbank properties under burned and unburned Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis)-Utah juniper-bunchgrass sites in Utah. Despite relatively high presence of needle-and-thread grass as ground cover, there were very few viable needle-and-thread grass seeds in the upper 2 inches (5 cm) of soil on both the burned and unburned treatments.



In a Nebraska sandhills prairie site, needle-and-thread grass contributed the fewest seeds to the 0 to 2 inch (0-5 cm) depth seedbank of several perennial grasses [107]. Only 2% of needle-and-thread grass seeds germinated in greenhouse germination trials.

More info on this topic.

This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

 1   Northern Pacific Border

 2   Cascade Mountains

 3   Southern Pacific Border

 4   Sierra Mountains

 5   Columbia Plateau

 6   Upper Basin and Range

 7   Lower Basin and Range

 8   Northern Rocky Mountains

10   Wyoming Basin

12   Colorado Plateau

13   Rocky Mountain Piedmont

14   Great Plains

15   Black Hills Uplift

16   Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

More info on this topic.

More info for the terms: competition, forbs, shrub

Needle-and-thread grass is generally a mid-seral species. Needle-and-thread is considered an early seral species in Montana [94] and Wyoming [113], following the 1st annual forbs and grasses and biennial forbs. Needle-and-thread grass is a mid-successional species in semi-arid big sagebrush communities in Colorado [58].



Freeman and Emlen [59] evaluated interspecific competition in a cold desert shrub community in western Utah. They found needle-and-thread grass was negatively affected by competition with Indian ricegrass, galleta, blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), shadscale, saltbush, winterfat, and cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and positively associated with the forbs sand dropseed and red threeawn (Aristida purpurea).




Germination of needle-and-thread grass seeds is strongly inhibited by aqueous extracts of absinth wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) but positively affected by extracts of fringed sagewort (A. frigida) and tarragon (A. dracunculus) [82].



In wetter than average moisture conditions, needle-and-thread grass may be replaced by wheatgrass (Triticeae) and Canadian needlegrass [32].

Stipa comata Trin. & Rupr. [70,89,130]

The fully documented scientific name of needle-and-thread grass is Hesperostipa comata (Trin. & Rupr.) Barkworth (Poaceae) [79,129]. There are 2 recognized subspecies, H. c. ssp. comata, and H. c. ssp. intermedia (Scribner &amp Tweedy) Barkworth [79]. Some authors identify these infrataxa as varieties [36,80,87].

More info for the terms: cover, presence, seed

Needle-and-thread grass is useful for stabilizing eroded or degraded sites [79,94,115]. The presence of the long and tough seed awn on needle-and-thread grass reduces is usefulness as a commercial seed [78], but needle-and-thread grass hay has been used successfully in revegetation projects. In Saskatchewan, needle-and-thread grass and Canadian needlegrass (Hesperostipa spartea) mulch was used as a seed source and erosion blanket on a steep south-facing slope [47]. At a mining revegetation site near Colstrip, Montana, needle-and-thread grass successfully established on plots covered in native hay harvested locally on July 6. Ninety-two percent of the cover at the site from which the hay was harvested was needle-and-thread grass[40].


A south-facing slope on a sodium chloride contaminated mine site in North Dakota was vegetated with a mix of native grasses including needle-and-thread grass. Establishment of needle-and-thread grass after 2 years was still very low and insignificantly better on the actively reclaimed site than on the control [71].