Native perennial grasses were thriving for a decade or more after planting along Sacramento Valley roadsides and required little maintenance, scientists report in a peer-reviewed study published in the April-June 2007 issue of the University of California's California Agriculture journal.

"Native grasses are somewhat labor-intensive to establish on roadsides, but after a few years they offer a low-maintenance alternative to the nonnative, invasive plants that dominate many California roadways, which must be treated with frequent mowing and herbicide sprays," says Ryan O'Dell, restoration ecologist at UC Davis and the study's lead author.

O'Dell and colleagues Steve Young and Vic Claassen, all with the UC Davis Department of Land, Air, and Water, studied nine native-grass plots established by the Yolo County Resource Conservation District in 1993.

After they became established, the native grasses successfully out-competed invasive, nonnative species such as Italian ryegrass and yellow starthistle. In general, many native perennial grasses can remain green well into California's dry season, reduce fire hazards, and provide high-quality forage and habitat for native animals, O'Dell says. "The cost of installing native grassland can vary from about $500 to $1,400 per acre, and maintenance costs range from about $50 to $150 per acre for the next several years. But long-term, native perennial grasses are cost-effective and often require little maintenance."

The authors found that certain native perennial grasses prefer particular microhabitats in the roadside environment. For example, purple needlegrass and blue wildrye are more drought-tolerant and established themselves on shoulders and backslopes, while meadow barley and creeping wildrye were more suitable for wetter swales.

"If a roadside site's local conditions are not known or are highly variable across the site, planting a mix of all four species in all topographic zones has the potential to allow each species to establish itself in its optimal microhabitat," O'Dell says.

For the entire current issue of California Agriculture, including this study, go to http://californiaagriculture.ucop.edu.

California Agriculture is the University of California's peer-reviewed journal of research in agricultural, human and natural resources. For a free subscription, go to: http://californiaagriculture.ucop.edu, write to calag@ucop.edu or call (510) 987-0044. For a printed copy of California Agriculture, media should e-mail janet.byron@ucop.edu or call (510) 987-0668.