Friday, March 29, 2024
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Cheating Cheatgrass

This example of cheatgrass gathering is from D. Green who goes by the Twitter handle @cheatgrass.

I got an email not long ago from a researcher who wondered if I could help her find a place to purchase cheatgrass seed. I wasn’t aware of anyone selling the seed, but I did want to help, so I wrote back, “My suggestion is a little odd, but I think it would work. I would find some people who live in the areas where cheat grass and medusahead rye grow. Then I’d ask them to walk through a large patch of the mature grass and send you their socks. They will be loaded with seeds. I have boots that still have cheatgrass seeds stuck in them that I haven’t used in the field for probably 10 years. Just a thought. If it sounds reasonable to you, I could probably find some people to do it for you. :-)”

Filling our shoes and socks with sharp seeds is probably the least of our worries when it comes to cheatgrass. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is an invasive annual grass from Eurasia that showed up in North America as early as the 1790s. Thanks to great seed production (70.8 million seeds per acre with a 99% germination rate in the first two years), and an ability to germinate and reproduce rapidly, it has been able to out compete and replace native species on rangelands. Worse, it goes dormant in early summer, turning into an explosive fire fuel that devastates native brush and grass, giving itself even more room to grow, which leads to more frequent and more intense fires. Millions have been spent on fighting cheatgrass fires, and on trying to restore landscapes and ecosystem function.

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is now found in every state in the U.S., across Canada, and in some states in Mexico as well.

 

In the Fight Against Cheatgrass, What Works?

For decades, researchers, land managers and graziers have been working on solutions that will reduce cheatgrass and control its spread. In coming issues, I’ll be sharing a variety of solutions, some of which include grazing.

This week, we hear from Charlie Clements, a rangeland scientist with the Great Basin Research Unity of the Agricultural Research Service. He coordinates with graziers and wildlife organizations to address concerns they have about forage and habitat. He’s currently working with selective, pre-emergent herbicides and reseeding to reduce cheatgrass by 93% and increase other forages by 600%.

Stay tuned for more on fighting cheatgrass. I’ve got a whole variety of resources for you!

 

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Kathy Voth
Kathy Vothhttps://onpasture.com
I am the founder, editor and publisher of On Pasture, now retired. My career spanned 40 years of finding creative solutions to problems, and sharing ideas with people that encouraged them to work together and try new things. From figuring out how to teach livestock to eat weeds, to teaching range management to high schoolers, outdoor ed graduation camping trips with fifty 6th graders at a time, building firebreaks with a 130-goat herd, developing the signs and interpretation for the Storm King Fourteen Memorial trail, receiving the Conservation Service Award for my work building the 150-mile mountain bike trail from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah...well, the list is long so I'll stop with, I've had a great time and I'm very grateful.

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