Chaparral shrub control as influenced by grazing, herbicides and fire

Best control of chaparral shrubs on range-land at Hopland Field Station has been achieved with the use of herbicides. In both grazed and ungrazed areas, chemical control reduced the brush to less than 1% of the plant cover within four years and maintained a very low level for the 14-year period of the experiment. Grazing without other controls had little influence on the results, except for a re-occurrence of poison oak in ungrazed areas. Fire reduced the composition of brush for the first two years, but peaked out in the sixth year with a gradual decline thereafter.