Preliminary findings from a study of sown and unsown management options for the restoration of perennial hedge-bottom vegetation.

Abstract

The methodology and preliminary findings of a three year experiment designed to evaluate the effectiveness of various management options for restoring a botanically degraded hedge bottom are described. Two types of management option are being investigated. The first makes the assumption that by stopping damaging practices, the natural process of succession will restore the perennial vegetation. The second approach involves the removal of existing vegetation using a broad-spectrum herbicide, and its replacement by sown perennial grasses. There are three unsown treatments using the first approach and six sown treatments. The early findings show some significant differences between the relative frequencies of benign perennial grasses, barren brome (Bromus sterilis) and annual forbs between treatments. False oat-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius) was the most abundant perennial grass in both the unsown plots and the treatments where it was sown in a mixture with other grasses. Secondary succession in the unsown plots has resulted in a change in distribution of some species.