Controls on Willow Cutting Survival in a Montane Riparian Area

Abstract

To provide information to guide restoration of montane riparian willow communities, we investigated factors influencing the survival of prerooted and unrooted mountain willow (Salix monticola Bebb) cuttings in 2 degraded montane riparian areas in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. We planted cuttings across a gradient of water table depths and soil textures and evaluated their survival using logistic regression analysis. Our results indicate that depth to groundwater was a critical factor influencing survival of both rooted and unrooted cuttings. We found that few cuttings (7.8% rooted, 3.9% unrooted) survived where summer water table depths exceeded approximately 90 cm. Soil texture was not a significant factor in our logistic models, potentially because of low silt and clay fractions in our plots. Rooted cuttings survived at a higher rate than unrooted cuttings after 1 (55.8% vs. 36.5%, P < 0.001) and 2 (44.5% vs. 26.1%, P < 0.001) years of growth. We conclude that, when combined with appropriate hydrologic data, the use of rooted cuttings represents an effective technique to restore and revegetate degraded montane riparian ecosystems.