Marshes, Playa Wetlands, Wet Meadows, and Fens - Mountains and Plains: The Ecology of Wyoming Landscapes - page 76

Fig. 5.9. Wet meadow in a bay on Upper Green River Lake,
in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. the shrubs
are shrubby cinquefoil, and the single tree (foreground) is a
small lodgepole pine, both of which are growing where the
soils have more sand and are less anaerobic. the meadow is

dominated by graminoids, including blister sedge, bluejoint
reedgrass, fowl bluegrass, timber oatgrass, and tufted hair-
grass. the forests are dominated by lodgepole pine, engel-
mann spruce, and subalpine fir. elevation 8,000 feet.

At low elevations, wet meadows commonly develop
because of flood irrigation or leakage from irrigation
ditches. Hayfields are an example, though they have
mostly introduced species, such as Garrison creeping
foxtail, smooth brome, and orchardgrass. native species
include tufted hairgrass, nebraska sedge, clustered field
sedge, common spikerush, and mountain rush. Wet
meadows also occur on gently sloping valleys and broad
flats without defined streams. Many low-elevation wet
meadows have areas with elevated salt concentrations
and halophytic species, such as alkali buttercup, alkali
cordgrass, alkali sacaton, nevada bulrush, saltgrass, sea
milkwort, and seaside arrowgrass (see table 5.1). Wet
meadows can merge with salt flats, where few plants
survive. 24
Plants in wet meadows grow along a gradient in wet-
ness, from very wet sites that merge into marshes and
fens, to drier sites that border upland vegetation. the
important feature in this gradient may be the height

and duration of high water. 25 in wetter areas the veg-
etation is composed of both obligate hydrophytes (like
nebraska sedge and water sedge) and facultative hydro-
phytes (such as bluejoint reedgrass and tufted hair-
grass). the drier parts of meadows contain facultative
hydrophytes as well as upland plants.
Because meadows remain moist during much of
the growing season and are adjacent to rangelands on
the upland, plant growth is relatively high and they
are often heavily grazed. 26 As in grasslands, prolonged
grazing may cause changes in species composition,
from palatable to less palatable species. Also, excessive
grazing can hasten drying and often causes the forma-
tion of hummocks on the surface, a process known as
pugging. 27
Wet meadows are desirable for real estate develop-
ments because of their proximity to surface water as well
as to the upland, plus the availability of livestock forage.
Federal laws restrict construction in wetlands because