Addressing multiple management goals during roadside restoration: reducing weed invasion and fire risk while enhancing native plants and pollinator habitat in semiarid, invaded grasslands

Introduction Roadside vegetation management efforts often target a single desirable outcome; however, we frequently have multiple management goals for restoration. Multiple goals may be achieved concurrently, but the efficacy of roadside revegetation methods is largely unclear, especially when multiple methods are combined. Objectives Our objective was to identify roadside restoration methods that simultaneously establish native plants, reduce weed invasion, reduce fire risk, and enhance pollinator habitat. Methods Our experiment examined the individual and combined effects of spring mowing and seeding (mix, rate) treatments in semiarid, invaded grasslands along roadsides in southeast Idaho. Results By the second growing season, we did not find positive interactive effects of our treatments, nor did we identify treatment combinations that simultaneously met all restoration goals. However, we did find that multiple, independent treatments can be combined to achieve multiple management goals. Native forb establishment and flowering were enhanced by seeding a forb‐dominant seed mix. Spring mowing also enhanced native forb establishment while decreasing introduced forb flowering but encouraged introduced grasses. None of our treatments reduced fire fuel loading. Conclusions Our results suggest that select vegetation management methods can be used concurrently to enhance multi‐purpose revegetation efforts along roadsides in southeast Idaho.