Restoration Manual for Annual Grassland Systems in California, ANR Publication 8575, June 2017, written by former CNGA Director, Elise Gornish and Julea Shaw.

A comprehensive ecological application guide for effective restoration in grassland and rangeland systems for California. Developed for use by practitioners of any experience level to inform grassland restoration design and application. 

Includes sections on:

• Identifying your Restoration Goals - enhancing biodiversity, reducing invasive plant cover, improving pollinator and wildlife habitat, providing forage for livestock, erosion control, and carbon storage
• Pre-Vegetation Techniques - invasive species management
• Plant Materials - choosing species, sourcing seeds & plants, seed mixes, seeding amounts
• Revegetation Techniques
• Species--descriptions of over 80 grassland species with pros and cons
• Species Listed by Region and Restoration Goal - with tables for 7 goals for each of 7 areas: southern, desert, central coast, valley, northern coast, northern interior, and basin

How to Manage and Restore Coastal Prairie: Thoughts From the Field, California’s Coastal Prairie. A project of the Sonoma Marin Coastal Grasslands Working Group by Claudia Luke, Diana (Immel) Jeffery,  and Kathleen Kraft. Last modified June 2013.  Center for Environmental Inquiry at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California. Website: www.sonoma.edu/cei/prairie.

Grassland Management Skills Curriculum offers teaching materials for a complete course on teaching grassland ecology, species, and site-specific management planning strategies where student build on initial knowledge by learning to develop and modify their own grassland management prescriptions. 

Managing for Wildlife: Birds, Pollinators, Butterflies and Beneficial Insects

Hofmann MM, Renner SS (2020) One-year-old flower strips already support a quarter of a city’s bee species. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 75: 87-95. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.75.47507

Tonietto, RK & DJ Larkin. 2017. Habitat restoration benefits wild bees: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology Vol.  55 (2).  https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13012

Forister Matthew L., Emma M. Pelton, Scott H. Black. 2019. Declines in insect abundance and diversity: We know enough to act now. Conservation Science and Practice (online) First published: 22 June 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.80.

Grassland disturbance increases monarch butterfly oviposition and decreases arthropod predator abundance. Biological Conservation, Volume 233, May 2019, Pages 185-192 by Nathan L.Haan, Douglas A.Landis. Also see Mowing for Monarchs, Science Direct's summary of above article. March 12, 2019.

Establishing Pollinator Meadows from Seed, Xerces Society, 2013. 

Grassland and rangeland management for grassland birds. NRCS, Wildlife Habitat Management Institute,1999. See page 5, Grassland and Rangeland Management for birds. Page 7 has a summary table of habitat requirements for grassland-nesting birds.

Pollinators in Natural Areas: A Primer on Habitat Management, Xerces Society, 2014. Contains information on managing grazing, fire, mowing, and insecticides.  See page 12 for a graph with the recommended management window for North American bees and bumblebees. 

California Partners in Flight and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory recommends avoiding mowing or burning until after July when breeding season is over (pp 22-23)

Livestock grazing supports native plants and songbirds in a California annual grassland. PLoS ONE 12(6), 2017: By Sasha Gennet, Erica Spotswood, Michele Hammond, James W. Bartolome.  An 8-year study in central California finds livestock grazing can be compatible with or support grassland bird conservation. --Michele Hammond is a current serving on the CNGA Board of Directors. 

Weed Control

Selected Yellow Starthistle Treatment Options, Livestock & Range News, by Devii R. Rao, Septemeber 20, 2017. Grazing, mowing, herbicide options to  control yello starthistle. 

Use of Fire as a Tool for Controlling Invasive Plants -2006, California Invasive Plant Council. By Joseph M. DiTomaso, Matthew L. Brooks, Edith B. Allen, and Ralph Minnich. Edited by Joseph M. DiTomaso and Douglas W. Johnson

This report captures the current state of knowledge on the use of fire to manage invasive plants in wildlands, so that better information can facilitate improved decision making when considering the use of prescribed burning for the management of invasive plants.

Soils and Erosion Control

USDA Soils Tools 

Caltrans Erosion Control Toolbox

Soil Community

-Not All Micorrhizal Amendments are Equal

Native plant abundance, diversity, and richness increases in prairie restoration with field inoculation density of native mycorrhizal amendments. Liz Kozial, Timothy E. Crews, & James D. Bever. 2020. Restoration Ecology Early View. 

The authors found that native mycorrhizal inocula increased native plant abundance, richness, and community diversity. 

A Field Test of Commercial Soil Microbial Treatments on Native Grasslands Restoration, Lora B Perkins & Joe R. Bennett. Restoration Ecology 26 (5).

The authors found soil microbial additives had no effect on seedling performance during the 2 years after restoration. They conclude that the treatments are designed for agriculture or home gardens and are not appropriate for wildland systems. 

Grassland Restoration & Management Bibliographies

Grasslands, Publications Bibliography from UC Cooperative Extension. Bay Area Working Rangelands